The Mammoth Site
Natural History · Hot Springs, South Dakota
A sinkhole that opened in the Pleistocene, filled slowly with sediment, and trapped mammoths that came down to drink and could not climb out. It was found in 1974 when a housing development was being bulldozed. Rather than dig the bones out and ship them to a museum, the site was roofed over and left in place - so you walk around the pit and look down at mammoths lying where they died, still half in the rock.
1800 Highway 18 Bypass, Hot Springs, South Dakota, 57747, United States
Open daily year round with seasonal hours - longer in summer, shorter in winter, and reduced around major holidays. Ticketed, and the price includes a guided walk around the bonepit. ⚠ IT IS AN ACTIVE EXCAVATION, so what is exposed changes; summer visitors may see palaeontologists working, which winter visitors will not.
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