SITE HISTORY

Large bones were discovered along the western edge of Coyote Canyon during quarrying operations in 1999.

When it was recognized that the bones were from a mammoth, excavation was halted, and the site avoided.

In 2007, the land went up for sale, and the archeology department at Central Washington State University (CWU) was contacted to investigate this find, initially believed to be in wind blown loess deposits, similar to the Wenas Creek mammoth.

In May 2008, a pedestrian survey conducted by CWU and Kamiakin High School students quickly found trace evidence (e.g. tooth enamel) that led the investigators to a suspected location of additional remains.

The prospect of a complete (or nearly complete) Mammoth skeleton in Ice Age flood deposits, inspired community volunteers to seek a land owner that would protect the site and allow it to be studied.

Through the dogged efforts of a local real estate agent, the land was purchased by a local farming family who wished to see the site preserved and developed into a research center for K-12 teachers, students, and community volunteers from the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Pasco, Richland) in Washington State.

The site’s location on the edge of Coyote Canyon, gave rise to the site’s name.

In September, 2008, volunteers established the Mid-Columbia Basin Old Natural Education Sciences (MCBONES) Research Center Foundation.

Columbian Mammoths roamed eastern Washington throughout the Pleistocene Epoch (the last Ice Age). The painting to the left, by local artist Rick Fesser, illustrates what the landscape may have looked like when mammoths roamed the land of Badger Mountain (Rattlesnake Mountain is in the background).
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Cataclysmic Ice Age floods (such as those released from Glacial Lake Missoula) poured across Eastern Washington, sweeping many mammoths and other creatures to their deaths. Their carcasses, along with other floating debris, were carried downstream into temporary lakes and back waters. This painting by renowned Ice Age Floods artist Stev Ominski, with about the same perspective as Rick Fesser’s painting, illustrates what the shoreline of temporary Lake Lewis may have looked like if a modern geologist were to go back in time.

In November 1999, mammoth bones were discovered in a quarry south of Kennewick, Washington. The site was left undisturbed until it was rediscovered in 2008. At that time, it was established that the mammoth bones were located in Ice Age Flood deposits.
Upon rediscovery, excitement grew that this site might offer a unique opportunity for students, teachers, and researchers to investigate and study a well-preserved mammoth find in the context of Ice Age flood deposits.
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Formal excavation of the site began in September, 2010.

Ongoing excavation provides an opportunity for students, teachers, scientists, and community volunteers to collaborate among several scientific disciplines.

By the end of the 2016 dig season, we had collected nearly 700 specimens, including 97 mammoth bones or bone fragments.

Excavation of the site continues two weekends per month from March through October.

RESEARCH
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The MCBONES Research Center Foundation has presided over, and is currently presiding over, the excavation and research of four mammoth finds:

- Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site - The keystone of the foundation’s work (ongoing)

- Fourmile Canyon Tusk (2013);

- Frenchman Hills - Tonnemaker Mammoth Site (ongoing); and

- Webber Canyon - Jones Mammoth (2014).

Another research site that MCBONES is presiding over is the Coyote Canyon South Hill-Mauldin Site (2011-present), where a camel bone was discovered in 2011. Even though this site is on the same property as the Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site, it is researched separately from the mammoth site.