waco mammoth site

Wow. Who knew. A real find in the middle of Texas. The site was discovered, dug, and now maintained by a Baylor University joint endeavor. All visitors get a guided tour, about an hour. Reasonably priced, $6 for seniors, $7 regular. Very impressed.

I visited this attraction in the thick of a hot Texas summer and was pleasantly surprised that it was in an air conditioned building! This is a fascinating tale of how a mammoth discovery in the 1970s started a looting for fossils trend which convinced the local scientific/ paleontology community to protect these bones which still haven't fossilized after millions of years! The bones are now safely secured and protected from the elements (as well as fossil looters) for everyone to enjoy comfortably. This is a must see for the whole family of any age.

It was really cool to see the excavation site with the fossils as they lay rather than as they are displayed in museums. The 45min talk was ok but I disagree with a lot of the information given. They claim 3 separate floods to be displayed on their site. They claim the same species (Colombian mammoth) just so happened to have 2 separate groups about 5 inches apart in length and depth died in the very spot thousands of years apart. One died of flash flood and the other group by mudslide. They didn't like the carbon dating results so they choose optical dating but only 2 samples from the 3 supposed areas that represents 3 very separate dates in history. Common sense will tell you that it all was the same time frame and the flooding...Genesis. In the light of the bible, it was amazing to see evidence of the deluge. The docent explained how the creatures died by flooding and explained the placement of the bones evidence of this.

Driving back to Dallas from Austin, we decided to make a stop about half way. It was a toss up between the Dr. Pepper Museum, and the Waco Mammoth Site. So glad we made the Waco Mammoth Site choice! We arrived at 3:00, and had a great private tour by Jeremy. We were not expecting much, but were very impressed with what we saw. It was a beautiful day, a good stroll, and a lot of great pre-history about the area and the flora and fauna. Made me curious about exploring other mammoth sites! Well worth a side tour to see it.

A recent sunny February day sent us looking for something to get us out of the house. A pleasant 2 hour drive brought us to Waco, and we ended up at the Mammoth Site. John, our guide, was knowledgeable and filled us in on many of the details of the find which we hadn't read in the newspaper coverage of the Mammoth discovery and the subsequent construction of the protected exhibit. The tour requires an easy 300 yard walk on paved paths. No steps, so wheelchairs and scooters should have no trouble. $7.00 entrance fee for adults, but discounts available for seniors, active & retired military, etc. If you first visit the Waco Tourist Information Center next to the Texas Ranger Museum, they also have discount coupons.

I drove all the way to Waco specifically to see this one place. It was very informative and the docent went over every possible thing. The mammoth and camel did impress, I am so glad that I got to experience it. My only dissatisfaction was that they had put some replica items in with the mammoths and a sign stating that indeed was fake. The building is large and very nice but if a person has walking issues, please be advised that there is a long pathway from the visitors center to the mammoth building. They may offer alternatives though because I did see a golf cart. Call ahead for information if walking is an issue :)

Did not visit site because of young grandchildren and inclimate weather, but Mayborn Museum has an excellent area for this... walking on a glass floor to view fossils below.

This ia a place that you need to visit if you are are in Waco Texas. They charge $7 per person for a tour. The tour guide was a very nice person, knowledgeable and made the tour very interesting. I definitely recommend the visit, they have tours every 15 min.

Who knew camels went from North America to other continents? Or that wooly mammoths were significantly smaller than Texas mammoths? Wonderful tour and staff.

We spent a couple of hours at the Waco Mammoth site. We had a guided tour which starts at the gift shop. The tour guides were very knowledgeable and gave us time to look around on our own at the end of the guided tour.

Jeremy our guide gave us a very good tour with just the right amount of details. The short film was worth watching although more geared towards children. Good gift shop with very reasonably priced fossils!

If you like archaeology, fossils, dinosaurs, etc, or even if you just want to re-imagine Waco, then I think you'll enjoy this site. $13 admission. You take a short walking tour (30-45 min) from the visitor center, to the dig site, stopping a couple places along the way as the guide paints a picture of what the area might have been like 50,000 years ago. The dig site is a temp-controlled building due to the bones' (they are not yet fossils) fragility. This is why you're seeing bones sticking right out of the ground. Apparently, there are 17 full mammoths discovered in the area, but those bones are on loan to Baylor Univ. at the moment. All-in-all, it was fascinating and fun to think about the area you're standing filled with 20 foot-tall beasts!

Recommend checking this place out. The tour isn't that long but you'll get lots of education and a the setup is wonderful. Our 6 year old loved it!

Really an interesting visit. The tour was very informative. The fact that the digs were preserved as excavated was awesome!

We recently visited the site while in Waco it was one of the highlights of our holiday. The tour was very interesting and informative. Would suit all age of visitor. The staff are doing a great job.