Mammoth Site of Hot Springs

The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs in Hot Springs, South Dakota, is an active paleontological dig and museum built over a sinkhole that preserved the remains of more than 60 Columbian and woolly mammoths, along with giant short-faced bears, American camels, and other Pleistocene megafauna during the last Ice Age approximately 26,000 years ago. The site was discovered in 1974 during a housing construction excavation and has been studied continuously since. Visitors tour the enclosed excavation building — a climate-controlled structure built over the original sinkhole — and view partial and complete mammoth skeletons still embedded in the sediment matrix at the exact positions where the animals died. Interpretive exhibits explain the geological trap process by which the spring-fed pond accumulated animal remains over centuries, the excavation methods employed by paleontologists, and the comparative anatomy of the two mammoth species represented. Multiple complete skulls with intact tusks are displayed in situ on the dig floor, and the density of bones visible in the matrix is visually striking even for visitors with no prior paleontology interest. A working paleontologist is often observable in the pit below the viewing walkway during the dig season. The Mammoth Site is the largest mammoth research facility in the United States and remains one of only a few places globally where the public can observe an ongoing Pleistocene excavation. Guided tours operate on a fixed departure schedule throughout the day, and the gift shop carries fossil replicas and educational materials of notably higher quality than typical roadside attraction merchandise.