Ice Age Death Trap

PBS ^ | Aired February 1, 2012 | NOVA / WGBH

[SunkenCiv]

Scientists race to uncover a site in the Rockies packed with fossil mammoths and other extinct ice age beasts... In the Rocky Mountains, archeologists uncover a unique fossil site packed with astonishingly well-preserved bones of mammoths, mastodons, and other giant extinct beasts. The discovery opens a highly focused window on the vanished world of the Ice Age in North America... They're finding thousands of bones of many different types, but most of them are mastodon, ancient elephants. In the depths of the Ice Age, entire families of these mighty beasts came down to this ancient lake to graze. And their bones reveal tantalizing clues that, very suddenly, something may have wiped them out... Furry and chunkier than its mammoth cousins, the mastodon was built to fight. Averaging five tons, it was about the size of today's African elephant, but more robustly built. The giant Bison latifrons also flourished in the warmth. At two tons, this one was twice as big as today's bison, with up to eight-foot headgear. One top predator of these warm-weather animals was Smilodon, the saber-toothed cat. About six feet long and 600 pounds, Smilodon used its bulk to subdue prey, not its teeth. Only when the prey was down would it sink its enormous fangs into a victim's windpipe and jugular.

[SoldierDad]

Where there any tae kwon do Dodo’s???

[colorado tanker]

The site is so high in elevation a sudden flood is not a likely cause of so many deaths. It's basically at the elevation of one of the Aspen ski resorts. The elevation, among other things, makes this a very curious site.

I watched a couple of minutes and saw a friend of mine who is one of the scientists on staff at the Denver Museum of Nat History that excavated the site. It was an all hands on deck effort including family and friends to meet the developer's deadline to finish the dig.