See mammoth bones being unearthed near Tri-Cities. 2022 tour slots to go fast

A new season of unearthing mammoth bones is about to begin at the Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site near Kennewick, and the public is invited to tour the site and learn about what’s already been recovered.

Registration for tours opens Tuesday, March 1, and the openings are expected to fill quickly. To register, go to tours at mcbones.org and submit a registration form.

Digging will resume in March at the Coyote Canyon site, the resting place of a 17,500-year-old Columbian mammoth that lived during the ice age, said Gary Kleinknecht, the site’s education and outreach director.

Volunteers are still hoping to find more leg bones, the pelvis, the cranium, tusks and more of the ribs and vertebrae.

No digging was done in the first year of the pandemic, but last year a portion of a large vertabrae that erosion had partially exposed at the dig site was carefully removed.

The vertabrae from the mid to upper back was sticking out of the vertical dig wall and at risk of damage. It was already broken, which is not unusual, Kleinknecht said, and the part farthest into the wall still needs to be dug out along with other bones.

The initial discovery of mammoth bones at the site was made in 1999, but it remained secret until 2008 when MCBONES — the Mid-Columbia Basin Old Natural Educational Sciences Research Center Foundation — was established as an educational non-profit.

Flood water backed up as it hit the narrow Wallula Gap to cover what is now the Tri-Cities. The dig site is at an elevation of about 1,060 feet, and floods may have been deep enough to reach the area about seven times.

The mammoth could have been drowned in the flood, and then the carcass could have been deposited on the hillside as waters receded.

The bones have been found relatively intact — the ribs somewhat jumbled, for example, but not scattered over a wide area.

Mammoth was about 40

The mammoth appears to be a male, because bone growth plates take longer to fuse in males. He likely was about 40 years old when it died with a front leg growth plate still unfused.

The animal was large, likely standing 10 to 13 feet tall at the shoulder, making it bigger than modern day elephants.

As the bones are carefully excavated, the dirt at the dig site is screened.

It’s not just the large bones that have a story to tell.

Anything of interest that is found — such as the remnants of snakes, mollusks, lizards and ground squirrels — is cataloged.

Findings will be used to understand changes in the Mid-Columbia’s climate through the centuries, based on the species that lived here.

Thousands of school children and families have visited the site since the excavation began in September 2010.

Tours for Tri-Cities area children have been scheduled for May, with plans to also allow children outside the Tri-Cities area to learn about the mammoth and the dig site.

WiFi has been newly installed at the MCBONES Research Center and virtual presentations will be offered for schools too far away for students to visit the site, Kleinknecht said.

Tour information

The initial registration is for tours offered on April 16, May 21 and June 18. On June 1 registration will open for tours on July 16, Aug. 20, Sept. 17 and Oct. 15.

Participants will be emailed directions to the tour site, which is at an undisclosed location to prevent vandalism, and instructions for participating.

Tours last about 90 minutes.

Visitors can expect to learn about the history of the site, with exhibits and bones and other findings at the MCBONES Research Center at the site. The center, or dig house, is used for analyzing, exhibiting and storing samples collected at the dig site.

They also will tour the dig site, watching diggers at work and people screening dirt to find specimens.

Volunteer at mammoth site

The nonprofit is looking for volunteers and plans a meeting March 12 to provide potential volunteers with information and a chance to meet volunteers.

If you are interested in volunteering, including obtaining information about the Volunteer Day meeting, contact Kleinknecht at 509-438-9417 or gary.kleinknecht@charter.net.

The site needs volunteers to screen dirt and they could advance to helping with digging. Additional volunteers support dig units with tasks such as fetching tools.

The project also is seeking an education assistant, a volunteer coordinator and a dig house manager. The dig house manager would greet tourists, organize tool kits, accept donations and prepare a monthly income report.

Internships also are available for high school and college students.

This story was originally published February 27, 2022 at 5:00 AM.