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Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area Survey

In April 2002 an intensive survey of a proposed fiber optic cable route was conducted at Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Brewster County. Five new sites and one previously recorded site were documented along the route which crosses Calamity Creek in several places. Projectile points recovered during the investigation indicate a long cultural presence in the area (ca. 6500 B.C.- A.D. 1500s).

One of the most significant finds was a bovine skull buried approximately 4-5 meters below the surface in a bank of Calamity Creek. While it has long been suspected that bison inhabited portions of the Big Bend region at various times in the past, no definitive evidence has yet been found. Unfortunately this specimen was damaged with a trackhoe and could not be positively identified as a bison skull. Its depth, however, suggests that it predates arrival of the cow in the New World (Cloud 2002).