The pleasures of warm water soaking have been known to humans since the
beginning of recorded history.  Prior to this time, Pleistocene megafauna were
beckoned to these medicinal waters and succumbed to their siren call.
The remains of nearly 100 Columbian mammoths plus associated fauna and
plants  have been unearthed from their 25,000 yr old resting site in
Hot Springs, South Dakota.  Sedimentological studies combined with
those of the preserved remnants of these  Pleistocene behemoths elucidate
their last years and  their mode of  occurrence and preservation until unearthing
by subdivision development.  This natural deposit represents the luring of
a unique trap for  North American mammoths.

 ©B.Dutrow, all rights reserved               Columbian Mammoth, Hot Springs Mammoth Site, SD