Arizona ice age: Man vs. mammoth

By Barbara Grijalva - email

The densest concentration of human and mammoth sites in the world is in Naco.

It's the best example --some say it's proof-- that people hunted and killed the giants.

It's an amazing exhibit at the Arizona State Museum at the University of Arizona: "Ice Age Arizona: Preserving the Naco Mammoth."

The discovery brought the world's attention to southeastern Arizona archaeology.

"This is the lower mandible of the Naco mammoth," says UA Ph.D. candidate in anthropology Jesse Ballenger.

He's describing the lower jaw of a 30-year-old female Columbian mammoth, scientists say, was hunted down by humans some 13,000 years ago.

"Naco is unique just because it's such compelling evidence that human hunters were organized around taking down the very largest game that they could find," Ballenger says.

Where's the proof?

It's the block of mammoth bones, found with the jaw, at Naco in 1951.

It's why Naco is considered the most important Clovis kill site in the Americas.

Clovis is the name of the stone spear point.

Naco also is called the best evidence of mammoth hunting in the world.

It all supports a theory: "People actually hunted these animals and didn't just scavenge dead carcasses," Ballenger says.

At least eight spears were thrown into the mammoth's body.

As we look at the display, Ballenger explains the significance.

"That's what makes Naco so spectacular. It does show a catastrophic attack.  It is chimmy chunk full of Clovis points.

Here's a Clovis point right here in one of the vertebra of the neck. There's another one right here close to the ribs.

You see a lot of spears being thrust into a critical area of the animal.

They knew exactly what they were doing. They were very skilled at it."

Leg bones found at the site tell scientists the mammoth was about 11 feet tall.

She weighed about seven tons.

Scientists see organization, planning, the right tools for the job, and more in the hunt.

But why?

Why go after the biggest game?

That is still a mystery.

Research continues near Naco.

Scientists want to find out more about the people, the animals they hunted, and why they all disappeared at the same time.

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