In 2016, a routine construction project at Oregon State University took an unexpected turn when workers expanding the stadium uncovered fossilized bones belonging to animals that lived thousands of years ago. What first appeared to be an unusual set of large bones soon revealed a much bigger story about the ancient landscape beneath the Willamette Valley campus.
The excavation uncovered remains of Ice Age mammoths, along with bison and ancient camels. Scientists determined that the site had once been a Pleistocene-era stream or bog where prehistoric animals may have become trapped and died.
