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USDA Forest Service Logo Dry Gulch Mammoth Site
Smokey Bear Ranger District
Lincoln National Forest
New Mexico

 
The Dry Gulch Mammoth Site was discovered in 1987 by a miner who recognized the tip of a tusk in a gully near Ruidoso, New Mexico.  In 1997, the Center for Indigenous Research (CIR) out of El Paso, Texas, did preliminary testing and determined that the remains were of a Colombian Mammoth.  In April 1998, a full scale excavation began and there was intense public interest regarding the progress of the dig. 

 
Photo of excavation pit The excavation site was at the meeting of two arroyos (or dry gulches.) The Center invited the public and school groups to visit the site, and gave slide talks in town regarding the progress of the dig. 
Dirt and soil at the site were screened for bone fragments and archeological artifacts. Photo of collecting at the site
Photo of Mammoth fossil bones, jacketed and unjacketed The remains were of a Colombian Mammoth which lived approximately 9,300 years ago.
Bone fragments, some still encased in rock, were jacketed with plaster for transport to the laboratory in El Paso for curation and further study.  The excavation recovered the skull, two teeth, rib bones, a shoulder blade, a portion of a thigh bone, several vertebrae and a well preserved tusk. Photo of jacketed bones
Photo of scientists in pit Stratigraphic relationships were studied by geo-archeologists as part of the project to determine stratigraphic correlations, the age of the Mammoth, and clues for the presence of early man.
Photos by Mike Linden, New Mexico Zone Geologist, Region 3, Albuquerque, New Mexico
 

Last Modified November 10, 2003