COMPARATIVE ANALYSES OF CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS WITH DENTAL AGES OF THE COLUMBIAN MAMMOTH (MAMMUTHUS COLUMBI) FROM THE MAMMOTH SITE OF HOT SPRINGS, SOUTH DAKOTA

Detailed analysis of ten Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) skulls from the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota yields data about the ages, sizes, and sex of the animals. The site is a twenty-six to twenty-seven thousand year old natural sinkhole that served as a death trap for at least fifty-eight mammoths (based on tusk count) and about fifty other animal species. Due to skull preservation and orientation only ten mammoth skulls were used for comparison. Most of these skulls fall within a six year age range, calculated by dental analysis, equivalent to a twenty-four to thirty year age range in modern African elephants. The last individual is an older animal, one of the oldest in the bone-bed at the site, and is aged to approximately forty-nine years old. Thirty individual cranial measurements, as skull orientation allowed, were completed on each of the skulls and plotted on graphs to observe trends. The data points group toward the larger end of the size scale, suggesting the presence of only male mammoths at this site, whereas female mammoths observed at other sites tend to be about twenty-five percent smaller than the males. It is assumed that the older mammoth is an averaged sized male, as he falls in the middle of the size ranges of the other mammoths. Additionally, tusk and pelvic measurements indicate that the population at the Mammoth Site, to date, is all males; most in the twelve to twenty-nine year old range. The sample group at the Mammoth Site is an excellent control group for other Mammuthus columbi sites, where it is assumed both males and females are present.