Speaker: Todd Surovell
The La Prele Mammoth site, about 12 km northwest of Douglas, Wyoming, along a tributary of the North Platte River, preserves an Early Paleoindian archaeological locality dating to approximately 12,950 BP. Here, we've found evidence of a subadult Columbian mammoth kill, around which a large Early Paleoindian camp was established. George Frison initially investigated the site in 1987, and the University of Wyoming conducted excavations from 2014 to 2024, focusing on the domestic camp area. Our recent efforts have confirmed the mammoth kill and revealed a wealth of surprising findings, including intensive use of red ocher, bone needles, ornaments, and evidence for Early Paleoindian houses. The campsite features multiple spatially discrete, hearth-centered activity areas with debris from domestic activities, offering a unique opportunity to study Early Paleoindian social organization and subsistence in the American West. In this talk, I will provide a general overview of the site and discuss major findings from these recent excavations.