Waco Mammoth Site to Open Doors
Taryn Ogle
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: News
The time to celebrate the findings and discoveries of the Waco Mammoth Site is finally arriving. Nearly 30 years ago, two men, while out exploring and looking for fossils and artifacts, stumbled across a bone, thus beginning the long and tedious process of uncovering the bones of at least 25 mammoths.
After partnering with Baylor University, the City of Waco and the Mammoth Site itself, the site will soon be open to the public. Dr. Ellie Caston, director of the Mayborn Museum Complex at Baylor University, says that it is safe to say the site will open sometime in late December or in the spring. All parties of the site are still "working hard to get a firm date."
Caston said that "the mammoths have waited over 65,000 years," but it will take a few more weeks before they are ready to open.
Each party will maintain some responsibilities after the opening of the site. The City of Waco will take care of the day-to-day operation of the facility and will staff it. Baylor University will be working to take care of the collection of artifacts and other items and will do additional research and projects.
The Waco Mammoth Site and its partners hope that everyone will be more excited about science after viewing the site and remember that even as science advances, we "never stop learning."
Cason recalls how the site came to be when two ordinary men stumbled across what is now a historic site. She said science "depends on regular people."
Now after going through a three-year study under the National Park Service, a bill to make the Waco Mammoth Site a national monument of the National Park Service is moving through the House of Representatives, awaiting approval from the Senate and will hopefully proceed to the President for his signature.
"This could happen in weeks or months," Caston said. However, the plan is to open the site to the public in late December or in the spring.
After partnering with Baylor University, the City of Waco and the Mammoth Site itself, the site will soon be open to the public. Dr. Ellie Caston, director of the Mayborn Museum Complex at Baylor University, says that it is safe to say the site will open sometime in late December or in the spring. All parties of the site are still "working hard to get a firm date."
Caston said that "the mammoths have waited over 65,000 years," but it will take a few more weeks before they are ready to open.
Each party will maintain some responsibilities after the opening of the site. The City of Waco will take care of the day-to-day operation of the facility and will staff it. Baylor University will be working to take care of the collection of artifacts and other items and will do additional research and projects.
The Waco Mammoth Site and its partners hope that everyone will be more excited about science after viewing the site and remember that even as science advances, we "never stop learning."
Cason recalls how the site came to be when two ordinary men stumbled across what is now a historic site. She said science "depends on regular people."
Now after going through a three-year study under the National Park Service, a bill to make the Waco Mammoth Site a national monument of the National Park Service is moving through the House of Representatives, awaiting approval from the Senate and will hopefully proceed to the President for his signature.
"This could happen in weeks or months," Caston said. However, the plan is to open the site to the public in late December or in the spring.
Be the first to comment on this story