Thursday, September 11, 2008

Visiting The Mammoth Site in South Dakota


Back to scrapping the vacation photos--it's only been 6 or 7 weeks. This layout is based on a template by Ali Edwards' "Layered Template No. 3" and the papers and elements are from Cherise Oleson's "Assemble Your Own Zoom Albums: 12x12: Vacation." I used Mistral and Arial fonts.

About the Mammoth site

Many, many years ago, large mammoths fell into sink whole and were trapped and died in the area near Hot Springs, South Dakota. These bones were discovered in 1974 by earth moving equipment excavating for a housing development. According to the the Mammoth Site's Web site this is South Dakota's greatest fossil treasure. Excavation was stopped and through the "work of local citizens, the Mammoth Site was preserved. Today it is the world's largest Columbian mammoth exhibit, and a world-renown research center for Pleistocene studies." The hill is enclosed by a climate-controlled building. "The bones are displayed as they were discovered, in the now dry pond sediments for an "in-situ" exhibit. Walkways allow visitors a close-up view of the fossils. To date, 55 mammoths have been identified, along with the remains of a giant short-faced bear, camel, llama, prairie dog, wolf, fish, and numerous invertebrates." For more information, visit The Mammoth Site's official Web site.