Mammoth dig to be open to public

SELAH -- Beginning next month, visitors can watch history unfold -- one painstaking inch at a time -- when the Central Washington University Wenas Creek Mammoth Project begins its fifth field season at the excavation site near Selah.

Here, the public is invited to watch the recovery of a 16,000-year-old Columbian mammoth and other associated animals and artifacts. The project began after in the spring of 2005, the left humerus, or leg bone, of a mammoth was found sticking out of the dirt along a freshly cut driveway on a ranch off South Wenas Road.

Led by Patrick Lubinski, an associate professor of anthropology at Central, this summer the crew of CWU students and others expect to expose many more mammoth bones using techniques from archaeology, paleontology and geography.

The dig site at 1770 S. Wenas Road will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays from July 14 through Aug. 8. Guided tours begin every 30 minutes and large groups should call ahead.

And while the site is equipped with a portable toilet, a small shaded museum tent and partially shaded excavations, visitors should come prepared with water and sun protection.

For more information and driving directions -- the excavation site is located on private land -- call 509-963-1504 or 509-963-3201, or visit www.cwu.edu/~masters/mammoth.html. Admission is free but donations are accepted.