39°13′N 106°56′W / 39.21°N 106.93°W
The Snowmastodon site, also known as the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site, is the location of an important Ice Age fossil excavation near Snowmass Village, Colorado. Fossils were first discovered on October 14, 2010, during the construction of a 5 hectares (12 acres) reservoir to supply Snowmass Village with water.[1] Over the subsequent weeks, after an agreement had been reached to allow paleontological excavation, crews from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the U.S. Geological Survey worked along with the construction crews as more fossil material was uncovered.[1] The site closed for five months over the winter, reopening May 15, 2011. Between May 15 and July 4, 2011, crews from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science conducted a large scale fossil excavation alongside construction crews building a dam for the reservoir. In total over 36,000 vertebrate fossils (including mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths, horses, camels and deer), more than 100 species of fossil invertebrates and over 100 species of fossil plants were found in sediments deposited by an alpine lake during the last interglacial period.[2]
- ^ a b Johnson, Kirk; Miller, Ian (March 22, 2012). Digging Snowmastodon: Discovering an Ice Age World in the Colorado Rockies (1st ed.). People's Press. p. 144. ISBN 978-1936905065.
- ^ Johnson, Kirk R.; Miller, Ian M.; Pigati, Jeffery S.; Snowmastodon Project Science Team (November 2014). "The Snowmastodon Project". Quaternary Research. 82 (3). doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2013.12.010.