WSU Prof Takes On Mammoth Task Zoologist Excavates Fossils Found In Richland Area
When he is not teaching, Washington State University zoologist Carl Gustafson digs up mammoth bones in the fossil-rich soil of south-central Washington.
It’s strictly volunteer work, which Gustafson performs for the love of it and to engage the public in the pre-history in their back yards.
This summer’s work in Richland yielded an unusually complete mammoth skeleton brought to Gustafson’s attention by a Richland developer who discovered the ancient animal’s jaw while removing a backyard tree last spring.
For four months beginning in April, Gustafson and some students excavated the Richland home. Much of the recovered mammoth skeleton is now at the WSU Anthropology Department’s warehouse where Gustafson and his students are working to stabilize the fragile fossils.
When first uncovered, the bones were so unstable they could be cut with a thumbnail, Gustafson said. The fossils have since been loaded up with preservatives to make them stable enough to move.
Recovered were one-third of the mammoth’s back and rib bones, jaw bones with teeth in place, a single tail vertebrae, part of a femur, miscellaneous bone fragments and one tusk, which is now on display at a new Richland science museum.
A zoologist housed in WSU’s Anthropology Department, Gustafson is teaching a course on prehistoric environment and culture, in which students reconstruct ancient physical environments.
For years, Gustafson has been digging up and collecting Washington’s mammoths. Bones - “more than the university would like to have,” he said - fill the anthropology warehouse.
“It’s important to me to get another little piece of pre-history,” Gustafson said, explaining how he spends his summers. “I think it’s important to get the public involved in these things.”
The Richland area has been a rich mine for mammoth bones for years. In addition to Gustafson’s collection and a specimen now on display at the University of Washington, “there are a lot that have been found and you don’t know about,” Gustafson said. “It’s unusual someone would call and allow us to stay for four months and dig up their back yard.”
Discovered in mixed deposits dating to 13,000 years ago, the bones were likely deposited in the Pasco basin by slow-moving water in which icebergs floated toward the end of the last glacial age, Gustafson said.
When found, the fossilized bones of the Richland area are usually jumbled up, he said. “It’s very unusual we find an animal with this much of a skeleton remaining,” he said.
Gustafson believes a large body of water may have existed in the Tri-Cities area with a surface 1,200 feet above sea level. Assuming humans lived in the area at the time, Gustafson said important archaeological sites are still to be discovered well above those identified in previous archaeological surveys.