October 14
Bulldozer driver Jesse Steele discovers bones of a juvenile
Columbian mammoth while working on the expansion of Ziegler
Reservoir near Snowmass Village. Steele and project superintendent
Kent Olson unearth approximately 25 percent of the animal's bones,
which Olson indentifies as belonging to a mammoth after researching
the find on the Internet. Kit Hamby, director of the Snowmass
Water and Sanitation District, and his team manage the initial
discovery, stabilize the site, care for the bones, and contact the
Denver Museum of Nature & Science about the discovery.
Slideshow
October 16
Dr. Ian Miller, the Museum's curator of paleontology and head of
the Earth Science Department, sends a small team of Museum
staff to Snowmass Village to inspect the bones. The Museum takes an
immediate interest in the discovery and begins discussing a
possible excavation with the Snowmass Water and Sanitation
District.
Slideshow
October 25
The Snowmass Water and Sanitation District votes unanimously to
donate the fossils to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Discussions continue about excavation logistics.
October 29
Steven Holen arrives in Snowmass Village with a small team to
prepare for excavation and tour the site. After evaluating the
finds to date, he confirms discovery of at least three mastodons in
addition to the original juvenile Columbian mammoth, plus parts of
other undetermined mammoths and/or mastodons.
Slideshow
October 30 & 31
More than 1,000 local residents view bones on display at the
Snowmass Water and Sanitation District offices. Meanwhile, the
excavation team from the Museum prepares to begin the dig. They
create a site map identifying the areas where bones had been
discovered, and take samples for radiocarbon dating. The advance
team also sets up a grid over the juvenile Columbian mammoth to
guide the excavation.
Slideshow
November 1
Samantha Sands, an educator with the Museum, visits students at
Glenwood Springs High School and Carbondale Middle School. As
part of the public outreach and education effort, she shows
examples of mammoth and mastodon bones from the dig site and
explains how Museum scientists will study the area. She makes
presentations to 8,500 students over the next five days, earning
her the nickname "Samammoth."
Slideshow
November 2
The excavation officially begins. Using hand tools and
archaeological techniques supplemented by a small backhoe, the
Museum team opens up four of the sites that have produced fossil
bone. Dig crews recover more mammoth and mastodon bones, and
sediments containing the fossils of plants, invertebrates such as
insects and clams, and a variety of microscopic fossils.
Slideshow
November 3
Almost immediately after beginning work for the day, field crews
uncover the top of a large skull. Based on the fact that two
mastodon tusks had been discovered nearby, Holen concludes the
skull was most likely a mastodon. Careful excavation of the skull
continues throughout the day. It is the first mastodon skull ever
discovered in Colorado.
Video
November 4
The most significant day at the dig site yet. Excavation crews
discover two additional species: a ground sloth and a small
deer-like animal. Museum scientists also determine there are two
additional mastodons at the site after discovering a mastodon tooth
and a new leg bone in separate places.
Slideshow
Video
November 6
With the help of the bulldozers working on site, excavation
crews uncover the skull and horns of a gigantic Ice Age bison on
Saturday afternoon. The animal would have been about twice the size
of modern bison. "This is the iconic fossil recovered thus far in
the excavation," said Dr. Kirk Johnson, the Museum's chief curator
and vice president of Research and Collections.
Slideshow
November 8
Excavation crews discover a second Columbian mammoth at the dig
site. The animal was found in the top of a peat layer not far from
the first mammoth uncovered at the site on October 14. After
several hours of excavation, dig crews have identify the mammoth's
jaw, teeth, and tusks at the front of its skull.
Slideshow
Video
November 9
Crews excavate a beautiful seven-foot mastodon tusk first
discovered on November 8. Paleoecologists from the U.S. Geological
Survey visit the Ziegler Reservoir dig site to help Museum
scientists gain a better understanding of the stratigraphy of the
sediments. Their expertise should help explain how this ancient
lake filled with sediment, and how long that process took.
Slideshow
Video
November 10
Scientists take a longer look at several bones from another Ice
Age bison uncovered earlier in the week. The bones are from the
hind legs of the animal, along with several ribs and vertebrae. The
bison-the third one discovered-is the most complete one found at
the site thus far.
Slideshow
Video
November 11
Museum photographer Rick Wicker documents the bones of the
original discovery mammoth in preparation for final excavation.
Also, dig crews race against the weather to clear a new bone bed
where they discovered the fossils of American mastodon, Ice Age
deer, an Ice Age bison, and a well-preserved sloth tooth. Initial
radiocarbon dates indicate the dig site is more than 43,500 years
old.
Slideshow
Video
November 12
Excavation crews work on removing the original discovery
mammoth's fossils from the ground and prepare to transport the
almost 600 bones and bone fragments excavated at Ziegler Reservoir
to the Museum for preparation and preservation.
Slideshow
Video
November 13
The Museum's "Mammoth and Mastodon Madness" event in Snowmass
Village draws approximately 3,500 people from across the Roaring
Fork Valley area.
Slideshow
November 14
The Museum wraps up the excavation at Ziegler Reservoir fossil
site for the season as winter weather moves in. In just one
month's time, the excavation crews recover almost 600 bones and
bone pieces, 15 tusks and two tusk tips, 14 bags of tusk fragments,
and more than 130 samples of peat, wood, leaves, rocks and
invertebrates.
November 16
Museum scientists, conservationists, trained volunteers begin
the process of preserving the discoveries made at Ziegler
Reservoir. First, specimens are removed from their field dressings
and bags. They are documented, photographed, washed, and placed in
new plastic bags to dry out very slowly-a process that could take a
year or more for some specimens.
Slideshow
May 17
After the dig concluded for the season last fall, a staff member
from Gould Construction was sifting through sediment that had been
removed from the dig site and made an important find. One small
clue -- the two-inch lower molar of a Camelops -- was
discovered.
May 24
More than a week into its largest-ever fossil excavation, and
the Museum continues to find a treasure trove of Ice Age fossils,
despite challenging spring weather conditions. Additionally, local
students get the latest updates from the site via live broadcasts
and two-way interaction with Museum scientists.
Slideshow
May 27
The excavation team uncovers a heap of Mastodon bones --
including five pelvises, two tusks, and two skulls -- all located
together among the sediments at the bottom of the area's original
lakebed and on top of the glacial moraine.
Video
May 31
The Museum uncovers 546 Ice Age fossils and begins the third
week of its largest‐ever fossil excavation. Additionally, local
volunteers are get ready to participate in the dig between June 6
and 24, and then share their once‐in‐a‐lifetime scientific
experience with the community.
Slideshow
June 3
The Museum uncovers mastodons of all ages -- including infants
and juveniles. The mastodon clues include a small skull of an
infant (the size of a basketball), a small skull of a juvenile (the
size of a beer keg), a tiny femur or thigh bone that may have
belonged to a fetus (it measures seven inches in length), and more
than two dozen tusks.
Video
June 7
The team reaches the halfway point in the seven-week project to
remove Ice Age fossils from Ziegler Reservoir near Snowmass
Village. More than 1,000 fossils have been uncovered since digging
resumed on May 15, including 15 jacketed fossils of mastodon skulls
and pelvises that each weigh 300 to 700 pounds and are the size of
a kitchen stove.
Video
June 10
Work on the seven-week dig at Ziegler Reservoir passes the
halfway mark and continues at an aggressive pace, with more than
1,700 Ice Age fossils uncovered. The crew of more than 40 people is
works with efficiency, thanks to the efforts of local volunteers
and additional Museum staff, plus excavators, track hoes, and other
machines.
Video
June 14
The long list of Ice Age animals that once lived near Snowmass
Village continues to grow -- with the addition of an Ice Age
horse. Also, the team uncovers a complete skull of a Jefferson
ground sloth.
Slideshow
June 17
Crews from the Museum work with increased efficiency and set new
records for the number of fossils uncovered each day. The total
bone count has reaches 3,253 with an average of 247 fossils found
per day on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week.
Video
June 24
A group of 27 scientists joins the 50-person dig team at the Ice
Age fossil site near Snowmass Village. With one week left in the
dig at Ziegler Reservoir, the fossil excavation is accelerates to
its completion. Crews from the Denver Museum of Nature &
Science pull 4,056 fossils from the site since work resumed in the
spring.
Video
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