COYOTE CANYON SOUTH HILL-MAULDIN SITE
An isolated bone was discovered at the Coyote Canyon South Hill-Mauldin Site, on the same property as the mammoth site. Research of the bone indicated it was from an Extinct Western Camel, Camelops hesternus (“Yesterday's Camel”).
The MCBONES Research Center Foundation oversees research and education at this site.
DISCOVERY
In April 2011, during site reconnaissance following a work party at the Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site, Bill Mauldin noticed a piece of bone in the wall of an excavation cut, approximately 300 meters west of the mammoth site.
Follow up excavation by Bax R. Barton revealed that it was an isolated bone.
BONE ELEMENT AND SPECIES IDENTIFICATION
The bone was identified (Adams, et al. 2017) as a partial right metatarsal cannon bone (rear foot bone) of a Camelops hesternus (“Yesterday's Camel”).
Radiocarbon analysis yielded a calibrated age of about 25,360 +/- 145 calBP (calibrated years before present).
A - cross-section of bone
B, C, D, E - four side views of bone
F - x-ray image of bone cross-section
GEOLOGY
The bone was recovered from a sequence of fine-grained Ice Age flood deposits.
Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) analysis of a sample collected ~50 cm below the bone, yielded an age of 16,480 +/- 2,440 years ago.
Since the age of the bone appears to be nearly 9,000 years older than the sediments it was found in, this suggests that the bone was ripped up from its previous burial place and redeposited by the Ice Age floods (Adams, et al. 2017).
PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH
Betty Adams, Bax Barton, and others presented the poster "A Late Ice Age Camel From The Coyote Canyon South Hill-Mauldin Site, Benton County, Washington" at the 129th Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Seattle, Washington on October 22-25, 2017.
Bax Barton (left) and Betty Adams (right) at GSA 2017
The authors concluded that their modest record of Camelops hestemus provides initial documentation of a 14C/AMS dated specimen of Yesterday's Camel from the Columbia Plateau of western North America.
Coyote Canyon South Hill-Mauldin Site Research Bibliography
2019
Barton, B. R., N. Mara, and B. L. Adams. 2019. Updated Chronology Of The Camelops Hesternus Specimen From The Coyote Canyon South Hill-Mauldin Site, Benton County, Washington. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 51, No. 4, ISSN 0016-7592, doi: 10.1130/abs/2019CD-329689. ABSTRACT
2017
Adams, B. L., B. R. Barton, G. C. Kleinknecht, G. V. Last, B. Mauldin, Bill, K. Mauldin, C. J. Austin, K. Detrick, and N. Mara. 2017. A Late Ice Age Camel From The Coyote Canyon South Hill-Mauldin Site, Benton County, Washington. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 49, No. 6. doi: 10.1130/abs/2017AM-305131 ABSTRACT POSTER
