Ice Age Death Trap

Some 100,000 years ago, when glacial ice retreated across much of North America, an ancient lake was created near modern-day Snowmass, CO. A few years ago, as the ground was being bulldozed to create a resort reservoir, a huge cache of ancient, well-preserved animals bones were unearthed, and paleontologists quickly concluded that this was a "mammoth graveyard." Filmmaker Eleanor Grant's PBS-aired NOVA documentary follows the "scientific sprint" to explore the find before the owners fill the area with water. Apparently, the lake was once a busy watering hole, not only for mammoths, but also for mastodons and giant ground sloths, as well as fearsome predators such as the short-faced bear and the dire wolf. Scientists concluded that the creatures' fate was sealed by frequent earthquakes which caught the animals by surprise. As the ground shook it became like quicksand due to a phenomenon known as liquefaction, dooming the animals to weeks of starvation and a painful death. Ice Age Death Trap looks at various characteristics of these prehistoric giants, theorizing that the mastodon was a violent, ill-tempered beast prone to fights. Bones found in soil layers mixed with massive boulders raise an interesting new question: namely, is this the result of landslides, or did early human residents use the lake as a "meat cache," anchoring these creatures in the cold lake, then returning to remove the meat? The latter is a controversial theory, since it places humans in North America much earlier than previously believed. A thought-provoking documentary, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (S. Rees)