Wenas Mammoth Mystery

http://www.kvnews.com/articles/2007/05/02/news/doc4638ee2342902125251306.txt

Deep in the heart of the Wenas Valley, at first glance one sees a creek, small herds of grazing cattle, and a lush green valley surrounded by dry sagebrush hills. Off to the south is a little-known site called the Wenas Mammoth Archaeological site, where archaeologists, paleontologists, and geologists have been doing fieldwork for the past two summers with hopes of unraveling all the mysteries surrounding the gentle giant called the Wenas Mammoth.

During the first year, the scientists and their students uncovered giant-sized bone elements, including two humerus, and many smaller elements that were not readily identifiable due to their rough condition.

The second year, however, not only uncovered more bones, but also more questions as to what had happened on that hillside 16,000 years ago. As part of the 2006 field school, we unearthed what appear to be prehistoric bison elements including various vertebrae in an excavation unit containing mammoth bone. Radiocarbon dates have returned a fairly solid date of 16,000 years on both the mammoth, and the bison.

One may wonder why there is a dead mammoth and a dead bison located in the same unit. Then we discovered a single stone flake near the bones. It appears to be the medial portion of a heat treated stone flake, and there doesn't appear to be a question about the stone having been humanly modified. Much excitement is further had for two soil samples taken above and below the flake have been sent out to a luminesence lab for dating: the dates returned strongly correspond to the 16,000 year date on the bones.

Obviously 16,000 years dates well before the earliest known (Clovis) people are believed to have been in this part of the continent. Only time, and further research will help to answer this, and many other questions coming out of the Wenas Mammoth archaeological site.

Agnes F. Castronuevo