So what if that meant nearly 2,000 miles and four
days/three nights of heavy driving in a state that all but swallows a man’s
will at the border of your choosing? This was the latest, greatest star in an
ever-expanding constellation that has all but defined our lives since May 2009,
and dammit, it would be added to the
firmament. Thankfully, these are in situ
fossils we’re talking about here (unlike the lesser lights of Agate and
Hagerman), as age and tire wear can no longer justify a trip across the seven
seas to see another blasted fort or Indian ruin. If the NPS is to survive and
thrive for generations not used to taking historical value on faith, the dust
and din of the obscure must yield to a little excitement now and again. Yes,
the NPS can risk being sexy. And as
we’ve said before, who but the hopelessly crabby doesn’t dig a fossil? Even if
it isn’t an actual dinosaur.
While not a T-Rex or some other ferocious lizard that sets
adolescent hearts aflutter, the animal in question, the Columbian Mammoth, is
bizarre and distinct enough to command a site of its own. Entering North
America about 1.8 million years ago, the Columbian Mammoth (and their descendants)
ate, shat, and delivered their young for centuries, until finally becoming
extinct around 10,000 years ago. This would place the creature firmly in the
Pleistocene Epoch, and as such, it was one of that era’s largest inhabitants. While
not as famous as its distant relative, the Woolly Mammoth of icy legend, the
Columbian “managed to grow to more than 14 feet in height at the shoulder and
weighed up to 10 tons.” Not as well-loved, perhaps, but sure as shit the bigger
deal (by as much as 8,000 pounds).
The origins of the site are as expected, involving the
usual accidental discovery by dedicated locals and eccentrics. In this case, in
1978, two men found a femur in a ravine near the Bosque River (at the northern
outskirts of Waco), which was then sent to nearby Baylor University (the
Strecker Museum, to be exact) for identification. Once classified as the bone
of a Columbian Mammoth, a more expanded dig began in earnest. For the next two
decades, students and volunteers alike scoured the site, excavating what
remains the only nursery herd of Columbian Mammoths ever found. Given the sheer
number of animals involved (and their proximity to each other), scientists
concluded that a catastrophic event, such as a flood or mudslide, must have
swiftly buried the creatures where they fell. The event, they say, occurred
approximately 65,000 to 72,000 years ago. A long time, yes, but not so distant
that it takes on the qualities of the unreal. In geologic time, it’s
practically yesterday.
While visitors to the National Monument do not get to see
the legendary nursery herd (those fossils are safely housed at Baylor’s Mayborn
Museum Complex), enough fossils remain to satisfy adult and child alike. As
mentioned, the fossils have been left in their “original position within the
bone bed”, all protected from the elements by a climate-controlled “dig
shelter.” Visitors use a suspended walkway above the dig site to look down upon
the discoveries. No further excavations are planned for the site, and given the
layout, visitors can bear witness to near-mythical creatures, long passed from
the earth, in their natural state. Bones in a glass case are all well and good,
and often necessary, but they mean that much more when they can remain forever
undisturbed as they were found. In fact, it can be reasonably argued that in situ fossils are really the only way
to observe the past, even though such sites are decidedly rare (South Dakota’s
privately-run Mammoth Site is another example).
While the National Monument is not exactly conveniently
located (as if the mammoths had a choice about whether or not to expire next to
a future interstate highway), the hidden spot makes for a more satisfactory
visit, as does anything hard-earned. Open to the public only since 2009 (the
site was managed by the City of Waco and Baylor University until the Park
Service joined the partnership), the buildings, exhibits, and signage reek of
the modern, which is so often not the case with the NPS. Unlike true dinosaurs
like Scotts Bluff or Chiricahua NM, Waco Mammoth has the sort of new car smell
that helps visitors focus on the meaning of the site, rather than its
embarrassing trappings. The Welcome Center, though small and limited in scope,
will certainly have to do, as the NPS only controls the dig site itself.
Expansions and upgrades, if deemed necessary, will have to come from the will
(and pockets) of Waco and Baylor.
While no NPS rangers were lurking about (it’s likely none
ever will, given how the interests are divvied up), the young lady who acted as
tour guide on this hot summer day was more than up to the task. She was
knowledgeable, cheerful, and held the diverse crowd of wheelchair-bound and
toddler together with all the confidence of an old pro. Tours occur every half-hour
(adults pay $5 per person), and upon leaving the Welcome Center, visitors walk
about 300 yards down a smooth, level path to the dig shelter. Before reaching
the final destination, however, the guide sits everyone down in an amphitheater
of sorts to explain the size and scope of the creatures we are about to see
post-mortem. It’s a brief, layman’s lecture, but sufficiently informative
nonetheless.
Of course, it goes without saying that any NPS aficionado worth his or her salt wants more. An expensive, state-of-the-art movie, perhaps. More displays. Lights, thunder, bravado. But given that the site, as an official park unit, is less than two months old, all complaints should bear in mind that in the years to come, things will only get better. As it stands, Waco Mammoth National Monument is an important addition, and the sort of subject matter than doesn’t seem to get enough attention from an organization so devoted to vistas and long-forgotten battlefields. Here, visitors don’t have to stretch their imaginations to wonder why the official seal has been slapped on a sign: it’s science, man, and we all just instinctively get it. As Americans, it’s important to remember that our identities are ever-tied to the past, even a long, distant past that took place without us.
FINAL RATING:
8.5/10
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