When Bronwyn and Douglas Mayo were having a private road put on their property north of Selah, they made a mammoth discovery. Literally.
They uncovered the remains of a mammoth that has since been studied by Central Washington University and is the subject of a traveling educational exhibit showing people what life was like in the area in ancient times.
While an elephant-like creature may seem wildly out of place in present-day Yakima, they were actually quite common in the region. The Columbian mammoth first appeared in North America 1 million years ago, and its territory would extend from Canada down to Central America. They went extinct about 10,000 years ago. In Washington state, where until recently no dinosaur fossils were ever found, the mammoth is the state’s official fossil, and finding mammoth remains is not unusual.
What makes the Mayo’s find unusual was where it was found, and how much of the mammoth was there. Typically, mammoth remains are found scattered in deposits left when massive floods poured through the area at the end of the Ice Age. The Wenas Mammoth, on the other hand, was found above the Missoula Flood deposits and is considered a well-preserved specimen.
A group of educators and supporters formed the Wenas Mammoth Foundation in 2012 to promote the history and science of the site while preserving it, with the bones being recently returned from the CWU laboratory for the foundation’s museum.
The foundation also has a traveling exhibit and hosts events at the dig site. Students from Perry Technical Institute, Yakima Valley College, YV-Tech and Eisenhower and Selah High schools erected a life-size mammoth silhouette at the site.
