Synopses & Reviews
In October 2010, a bulldozer operator working at the base of the Snowmass ski area in Colorado's Rocky Mountains uncovered the skeleton of a young female mammoth. Over the next 11 months, this find would yield a treasure trove of amazingly well-preserved ice age fossils - more than 5,000 bones of over 40 kinds of animals - and would change forever our understanding of alpine life in the ice age. The Snowmastodon Project's two lead scientists tell the dynamic story of this discovery and dig: the excitement, emotion, and the colorful cast of characters who made the project a success.
Review
Digging Snowmastodon is part science and part love. Johnson and Miller bring to life one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the new century. What an incredible read.- John Hickenlooper, Governor of Colorado
In have only dreamed of mastodon bones but Kirk, Ian, and Joe gave us the gift of participating in this amazing experience in Snowmass, Colorado. This is a special story that my husband Derek Trucks and I will share with our grandchildren someday.- Susan Tedeschi, award winning singer/guitarist with the Tedeschi Trucks Band
This is a brilliantly told tale of one of the most exciting finds in modern geology, a treasure hunt with a perfect, inspirational conclusion. Youll never look at the Earth in quite the same way again!- Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman and The Map that Changed the World
Sit down with this book, and you are instantly a welcomed visitor to a place inhabited by revitalized mastodons and camels, environmentally sensitive bulldozer operators, charismatic paleontologists, noble volunteers, and colorful residents of the Wests quirky resort communities. Kirk Johnson and Ian Miller, as the worlds best tour guides, offer an outing to the promised land of the armchair traveler.- Patty Limerick, Faculty Director of the Center of the American West, University of Colorado, and author of Legacy of Conquest and A Ditch in Time: Denver, the West, and Water
Synopsis
On October 14, 2010, a heavy equipment operator working at the base of the Snowmass Mountain ski area in Colorado drove his machine through the skeleton of a young female mammoth, a find that initiated the Snowmastodon dig. Told by the two lead scientists on the dig, this is the story of the next eleven months and the resulting excavation that would yield more than 5,000 bones of more than 40 kinds of animals and would change forever our understanding of alpine life in the ice ages.
About the Author
Kirk Johnson is the Chief Curator and Vice President for Research and Collections at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. He earned a Ph. D. in geology and paleobotany at Yale University in 1989 and has been at DMNS since 1991. His research focuses on fossil plants, the extinction of the dinosaurs, and methods for dating rocks and fossils. His research has taken him to all continents and he is presently working on projects in Patagonia, Utah, and Colorado. Dr. Johnson is the leader of the Snowmastodon Project.
Ian Miller is Curator of Paleontology and Chair of the Earth Sciences at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. He earned a Ph. D. in geology and paleobotany at Yale University in 2007, and has been at DMNS since 2007. His research focuses on fossil plants and their applications for understanding ancient elevation, climate, and the position of continents. He is presently working on projects in the Colorado Rockies and the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in Utah. Dr. Miller is the co-leader of the Snowmastodon Project.