Travel back to the time when Ice Age mammoth, camel, and giant short-faced bear roamed the Great Plains of North America. Imagine a sudden collapse of a 60 foot deep karst sinkhole. Bubbling from the bottom, a warm spring percolates through the layers of limestone, now creating a large steep-sided pond. Picture thirsty animals venturing down to the water below...then, after drinking, animals unable to gain a foothold to escape. The sinkhole was a deathtrap.

Stand on the edge of discovery and walk where mammoths, bears, American lions and other Ice Age animals walked...

The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, South Dakota is the world’s largest mammoth research facility where you can tour an active paleontological dig site and view Ice Age fossils exhibited as they are found.

Open year round, the Mammoth Site offers the museum visitor a 30 minute guided tour plus a 10 minute video. Tour information features the Mammoth Site and Ice Age geology, paleontology, and paleoecology. Today, visitors to the museum observe first-hand a scientific excavation.

During the month of July, Earthwatch volunteers, under the direction of Dr. Larry Agenbroad, excavate, identify and study the Ice Age fossils. Read the latest Earthwatch news...

Stand on the edge of discovery and walk where mammoths, bears, American lions and other Ice Age animals walked...

Visitors to the museum can take in: