The Kyle Mammoth: A Late Pleistocene Columbian mammoth from southern Saskatchewan, Canada

Abstract

Mammoth remains, best referred to the Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi), were uncovered during roadwork near Kyle, Saskatchewan in 1964. Excavation yielded bones that gave a radiocarbon age of 12,200 ± 200 BP (radiocarbon years before present – taken as 1950) suggesting that Columbian mammoths had followed continental glacial ice as it had retreated northward from the South Saskatchewan River valley toward the close of the last glaciation. The Kyle Mammoth evidently died a natural death, perhaps becoming mired in sticky pond deposits. Bones recovered consist of several parts of the skeleton – notably a lower jaw with RM5 and RM6, several vertebrae, a scapula, a femur, parts of a left radius and ulna, and foot bones. Although the bones were scattered they represent the most complete mammoth from the Canadian Prairies (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba). Paleoenvironmental evidence suggests that the area was partly forested perhaps by a mixed-deciduous forest transition. Maximum summer temperatures could have approached 28 °C.