Last updated: June 8, 2026
Place
Research Lab
NPS
The platform in front of you is the site’s research lab. Guided by the site paleontologist, volunteers and interns excavate the plaster jackets. These white plaster jackets were used to safely remove fossils from the site. One hundred jackets were first brought to a warehouse at Baylor University, then they were moved to the Mayborn Museum.
These jackets contain the only known nursery herd of Columbian mammoths, but current staff have not seen most of these bones. To better understand the herd, staff are focusing on opening jackets instead of starting new excavations.
Jackets are brought to the site and opened using equipment you see on the platform. Once a jacket is opened, workers use small bamboo scrapers and skewers to slowly remove the sediment. When bones are uncovered, they are cleaned and repaired before returning to the museum.
These jackets contain the only known nursery herd of Columbian mammoths, but current staff have not seen most of these bones. To better understand the herd, staff are focusing on opening jackets instead of starting new excavations.
Jackets are brought to the site and opened using equipment you see on the platform. Once a jacket is opened, workers use small bamboo scrapers and skewers to slowly remove the sediment. When bones are uncovered, they are cleaned and repaired before returning to the museum.