A mammoth state symbol from Washington's prehistory

State symbols are designated to reflect the history and culture of a place. For instance, in Washington, we have a state tree that's common to our region (the Western Hemlock) and also a state bird (the Willow Goldfinch)—there's even a state dance (care to square dance, anyone?).

In the early 1990s, a group of elementary school students in Washington noticed an important piece of Washington's history that was not represented in the state symbols list: a remnant from prehistory Washington.

Prehistory is fascinating. Memorialized in the fossil record is evidence of massive floods, thousands of feet of solid ice and animals that we can now only imagine. Studying paleontology and learning what the planet looked like millions of years ago is akin to present-day detectives solving crimes with only a few clues and a wealth of scientific knowledge.

Mrs. Aebly's 2nd grade class in 1994.
Photo courtesy of Chris Pineo.

This topic captivated Chris Pineo and his classmates in Mrs. Sara Jane Aebly’s second grade class at Windsor Elementary School in Cheney, Washington. While learning about dinosaurs and paleontology, the students read about a class in Colorado that designated a state fossil and it inspired Chris and his classmates to seek out a fossil that represented Washington state.

Creativity unearthered! Some favorites from the mammoth naming contest

UPDATED 4.14.14

We just couldn't wait to share a few gems from the mammoth naming contest even though our judges are still hard at work selecting the winning name.

All in all, over 1,000 entries came in! Once the judges make a decision, the winning name will be announced Friday, April 11, at 7 pm, on our Facebook page and the following Monday on SeattleMammoth.org (where you can also follow the tusk's progress and learn more about mammoths).

For now, here's a sampling...

Next steps for Seattle mammoth tusk

UPDATED 3.20.14

The Seattle Mammoth had a Twitter account up and running within a day of its tusk being discovered, but when it comes to next steps for the tusk itself, the pace may be a bit more... well, glacial.

Step 1: Stabilize

"For every day you spend collecting something, you can spend weeks,
months or even years getting the preparation work done."
—Bruce Crowley, Burke Museum Paleontology Lab Manager

Diggin' the South Lake Union Mammoth

By Dave DeMar

On Tuesday, February 11, 2014, an employee of Transit Plumbing, Inc. discovered a Columbian mammoth tusk at a South Lake Union construction site in Seattle. I had heard about its discovery that day but hadn’t given it much thought beyond “you never know when or where fossil discoveries are going to turn up.”



The Columbian mammoth is Washington's state fossil and had tusks
up to 15 feet long. These mammoths ranged across North America
until the last glacial retreat about 11,000 years ago.
Image by Charles Knight, 1922, public domain.

The following Thursday around 8:30 a.m., I received a text message from Dr. Christian Sidor, Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Burke Museum and University of Washington Associate Professor of Biology, asking if I’d like to help excavate the mammoth tusk. “Sure!” I immediately responded, thinking what an adventure it would be to dig up an ice age animal in the middle of a city.