Between 1993 and 1995, a team of archeologists
undertook an excavation of prehistoric animal bones in the Deerfield area of
the Black Hills. They found bison, mountain lion, deer, elk and a range of
smaller animal bones. Work on the age of the specimens is still underway, but researchers
estimate some of the bones date as far back as 8,000 years.
After excavation, the bones were taken to the
Illinois State Museum in Springfield, where they stayed for more than 20 years. In
2017, the US Forest Service moved these back to South Dakota, and students in
the paleontological resource management class at SD Mines stepped up to help.
The students took part in an effort between the US Forest Service, the
South Dakota State Historical Society Archaeological Research Center, and the Museum of Geology at the South Dakota School
of Mines & Technology to curate
these specimens.
“A lot of times, in different repositories,
this material will just sit and sit for years,” says Mike Hilton, the heritage resources
program manager for the Black Hills National Forest. Hilton gives praise to
Sally Shelton, the associate director of the Museum of Geology at Mines, and
the students in her paleontology resource management class. The students
undertook the bulk of t...