Mammoth Delivery Arrives at SRAC

A mammoth delivery arrived at the Susquehanna River Archaeological Center (SRAC) in downtown Waverly, today. In fact it was a woolly mammoth delivery to be exact.

The shipment began in the early hours at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, PA where molds had been created from the Jefferson woolly mammoth remains that were excavated at Spring Lake in Asylum Township, Bradford County, PA in 1983. Throughout that summer, many professionals and amateurs worked side by side as they uncovered the remains of the great beast that lived approximately 14,270 years ago.

Actual photo from 1983 dig

After the excavation in 1983 was over, all of the original remains of the mammoth were delivered to Carnegie for research purposes, and this is where they remain today. Because this excavation was so important in Pennsylvania’s history, the Bradford County Andaste Chapter of PA Archaeology, with the help of a grant from the Allen Pierce Foundation, funded perfect replicas of the original tusk , jaw with teeth, and tooth to be placed in the SRAC exhibit hall for future generations to learn about this excavation and the woolly mammoths that lived in our region.

The delivery made its way to SRAC after nearly six hours in the back of one of the Carnegie Museum’s vehicles and was accompanied by Norman Wuerthele, who was the same technician for Carnegie that wrapped and packed the original mammoth remains for delivery to Pittsburgh in 1983.

Carnegie Museum’s Norman Wuerthele and SRAC’s Tom Vallilee and
Ted Keir pose with the new additions to the SRAC Exhibit Hall.

The items will soon be a part of a huge exhibit including two murals, kiosk with movie shorts, and realistic landscape from the time when the mammoths roamed our area. The exhibit will be officially unveiled during a ceremony and celebration at SRAC on Saturday, April 3rd from 5-9pm. The public is invited to attend throughout the evening.

SRAC’s Deb Twigg stated, “Over the past decade, Ted Keir has presented a slide show about the excavation that took place at Spring Lake to just about every club in the region, and he had always hoped that there could be an exhibit complete with the ten-foot tusk for public display. I am just grateful that after over a quarter of a century it finally happened. We all owe him a big thank you for his diligence in finally finding a way to make it happen.”

SRAC is located at 345 Broad Street , Waverly, NY. To learn more, visit www.SRAcenter.org.