South Dakota
A sinkhole in South Dakota is packed with mammoth fossils that experts have been digging up for half a century. Take a look.
Amid the evergreen forests and picturesque hilltops in the Black Hills of South Dakota is a massive sinkhole time machine.
Tens of thousands of years ago, dozens of mammoths met their doom in this sinkhole death trap deep enough to fit a four-story building.
Today, the sinkhole is a treasure trove for paleontologists who get a rare glimpse into our nation’s ancient past.
You can watch these experts uncover its fossilized secrets — from toe to tusk — in real-time at The Mammoth Site museum, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Over the last half a century, excavators have uncovered fossils from 61 mammoths and many other ancient creatures, and they aren’t even halfway through digging to the sinkhole’s bottom.
There may still be dozens of undiscovered mammoths in its unexcavated parts.
“I never fail to be inspired when I walk into the museum,” Chris Jass, the museum’s director of research, told Business Insider. “You’re standing right where those animals lived, where they died.”
Take a peek into the Pleistocene past when mammoths roamed over 100,000 years ago.