ACOTW TM <strong>Arrowhead</strong> Collect<strong>in</strong>g <strong>On</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Web</strong> <strong>The</strong> Lehner Mammoth Kill Site In Arizona ... Excavated In 1955- 1956 ... Fur<strong>the</strong>r Proved <strong>The</strong> Antiquity Of <strong>The</strong> Clovis Culture. <strong>The</strong> Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site is a site <strong>in</strong> sou<strong>the</strong>rn Arizona that is significant for its association with evidence that mammoths were killed here by Paleo-Indians 9000 years BCE. In 1952, Ed Lehner discovered ext<strong>in</strong>ct mammoth bone fragments on his ranch, at <strong>the</strong> locality now known as <strong>the</strong> Lehner Mammoth- Kill Site. He notified <strong>the</strong> Arizona State Museum, and a summer of heavy ra<strong>in</strong>s <strong>in</strong> 1955 exposed more bones. Excavations took place <strong>in</strong> 1955-56, and aga<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> 1974-75. In <strong>the</strong> first season, two Clovis projectile po<strong>in</strong>ts were found among <strong>the</strong> ribs of a young mammoth. Artifacts found dur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>se excavations <strong>in</strong>cluded thirteen fluted Clovis culture projectile po<strong>in</strong>ts, butcher<strong>in</strong>g tools, chipped stone debris and fire hearth features. Bones of a variety of game— twelve immature mammoths, one horse, one tapir, several bison, one camel, one bear, several rabbits, and a garter snake—were excavated at <strong>the</strong> Lehner site. <strong>The</strong> Lehner Mammoth kill and camp site exhibited a number of firsts: It was <strong>the</strong> first site associated with <strong>the</strong> Clovis culture to have def<strong>in</strong>able fire hearths. <strong>The</strong>se hearths provided <strong>the</strong> first radiocarbon dates for <strong>the</strong> culture (9,000 B.C.). This site was also <strong>the</strong> first to have butcher<strong>in</strong>g tools <strong>in</strong> direct association with animal rema<strong>in</strong>s, and <strong>the</strong> first Clovis association with small animals, camel, and tapir. In addition to <strong>the</strong> obvious artifact rema<strong>in</strong>s, an <strong>in</strong>ter-discipl<strong>in</strong>ary group of scientists <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g archaeologists, botanists, geochronologists, geologists, paleontologists, palynologists, and zoologists have studied and Excavations at <strong>the</strong> Lehner site, 1955,with <strong>the</strong> bone bed well exposed (Arizona State University). Clovis po<strong>in</strong>t “<strong>in</strong> situ” near a bison mandible and mammoth bone at <strong>the</strong> Lehner site, 1955 <strong>in</strong>terpreted a wide range of data from <strong>the</strong> site that greatly adds to our understand<strong>in</strong>g of <strong>the</strong> past. <strong>The</strong> Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site was declared a National Historic Landmark <strong>in</strong> 1967. In 1988, Mr. and Mrs. Lehner donated <strong>the</strong> site to <strong>the</strong> Bureau of Land Management for <strong>the</strong> benefit and education of <strong>the</strong> public. References “National Register Information System”. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23. http:// www.nr.nps.gov/. Volume II, Number 5 10 May 2010
ACOTW <strong>Arrowhead</strong> Collect<strong>in</strong>g <strong>On</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Web</strong> <strong>Arrowhead</strong> Collect<strong>in</strong>g <strong>On</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Web</strong> TM Clovis po<strong>in</strong>ts found with mammoth rema<strong>in</strong>s at <strong>the</strong> Lehner Site, Arizona. (Courtesy Arizona State Museum) Volume II, Number 5 11 May 2010
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