A 13,800-year-old wolf lies next to a Columbian mammoth on a fragile eight-by-four-foot column of dirt. The Lubbock Lake Landmark excavation crew, which found the bones in 2019, realizes such a pairing is almost unheard of. The discovery fuels a dramatic race against the clock. Every scrape of the trowel sends vibrations through the column, already eroded loose from the cliff face. Balancing on a ladder in the 100-degree heat, John Moretti, then the senior crew chief at the Landmark, works inch by inch, scraping away the Ice Age sediment around the bones. After about an hour, he uncovers two more surprises: an intact ancient horse pelvis and half of an extinct box turtle shell, both of which are of a similar age.? Two days later, the column collapses, but not before the team collects many of the mammoth and wolf bones, along with the horse pelvis. As with any excavation, the fossils are logged and photographed in situ ? providing scientific context.

While odd, Moretti says, the proximity of the two creatures is not a mystery. The deposits demonstrate that Spring Creek flowed through the area at one time. ?The water most likely acted as a transport and concentrated the remains from across the area to one place,? he said. Although the team followed safety precautions and paleontological excavation protocols, the way this excavation played out is substantially different from a standard archaeological dig. Crews typically work methodically at ground level, digging in one-meter-by-one-meter squares. While working on a ladder makes for an extraordinary excavation, the fossils themselves are not rare finds for the Landmark crews. Excavations at the Landmark and across the region have unearthed a menagerie of Ice Age animals, ranging from the rare American Lion to Columbian mammoths, short-faced bears, ancient camels, and horses. Driving the decades-long research program is Dr.

Eileen Johnson, the Landmark?s director. While she doesn?t work in the field as often as she once did, she understands that the thrill of discovery brings men and women from around the world to volunteer to work during the scorching South Plains summers. ?What I remember most about field seasons is the anticipation and excitement of discovery, that with the next brush stroke or pass of the trowel, something unexpected would appear. The Lubbock Lake record is full of surprises,? she explains.