Mammoth Ice Age Finds in Colorado

Scientists excavating an Ice Age ecosystem in Snowmass Village, Colorado, have discovered numerous finds including a giant sloth, an American mastodon, and an Ice Age bison like the skeleton pictured here. (Denver Museum of Nature & Science)

Bones of a juvenile Columbian mammoth (<i>Mammuthus columbi</i>) were on display at the offices of the Snowmass Water and Sanitation District offices on October 27. This fossil was discovered on October 14 by Gould Construction employees Kent Olson and Jesse Steele. (Denver Museum of Nature & Science / Kirk Johnson)

Denver Museum of Nature &amp; Science staff and volunteers admire the humerus (upper arm bone) of a giant ground sloth discovered on November 4, 2010, at the Ziegler Reservoir excavation site near Snowmass Village, Colorado. (Denver Museum of Nature & Science / Rick Wicker)

The  curator of archaeology at the Denver Museum of Nature &amp; Science, Dr. Steve Holen, holds a horn core from a large ice age bison (<i>Bison antiquus</i>) from the Ziegler Reservoir site near Snowmass Village, Colorado. (Denver Museum of Nature & Science / Rick Wicker)

Denver Museum of Nature &amp; Science volunteers apply a supportive covering of burlap soaked in plaster-of-Paris to a large Mastodon tusk at the Ziegler Reservoir excavation site near Snowmass Village, Colorado. (Denver Museum of Nature & Science / Rick Wicker)

A historical photograph of a very large Columbian mammoth from Nebraska is stored at the Denver Museum of Nature &amp; Science. (Denver Museum of Nature & Science)

A museum staffer holds up peat with extremely well-preserved monocot (grass-like) leaves from the excavation at the Ziegler Reservoir excavation site near Snowmass Village, Colorado. (Denver Museum of Nature & Science / Kirk Johnson)

After the skull of a bison was excavated, Museum crews created a “jacket” for it out of burlap strips and plaster of Paris. The jacket will protect the fossil, making it safer to transport to the Museum in Denver. (Denver Museum of Nature & Science)

Dr. Ian Miller, curator of paleontology and chair of the Museum’s Earth Science Department, is credited with spotting the bison horn core first, after it was churned up by a bulldozer.  (Denver Museum of Nature & Science / Heather Rousseau)