Mastodon State Historic Site

Mastodon State Historic Site contains an important archaeological and paleontological site: the Kimmswick Bone Bed. Here, scientists discovered the first solid evidence of the coexistence of humans and the American mastodon in eastern North America.

Today, visitors can learn about this discovery and how the landscape of Missouri looked in prehistoric times. The site features a museum with an interpretive video, displays of ancient artifacts and fossils, and an impressive mastodon skeleton replica. Programs explain more about the significance of the site.

For anyone wanting to stretch their legs, the site offers three trails, including one that leads to the site where the bones and artifacts were found. The park also offers picnic sites, a picnic shelter, a playground, a special-use area for organized youth groups, and a wildflower garden that attracts birds and butterflies.

From 1940-1942, excavations by archaeologist Robert McCormick Adams from the St. Louis Academy of Science were sponsored by the Works Progress Administration. He recovered additional fossils but few artifacts.

Construction of Interstate 55 in the 1970s renewed public concern for the site. The Mastodon Park Committee organized a movement to save the site from future destruction. Through the efforts of the committee, local legislators, private individuals, corporations and local school children, and with the help of a federal grant, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources was able to purchase the 418 acres containing the bone bed in 1976 and add it to the Missouri state park system.

Missouri State Parks sponsored excavations of the bone bed in 1979, 1980 and 1984. In 1979, paleontologist Russell W. Graham, Ph.D., of the Illinois State Museum provided the first solid evidence of the coexistence of humans and mastodons when a stone “Clovis” type projectile point was found in association with mastodon bones. This was the first site in eastern North America where this association was conclusively demonstrated.

The Kimmswick Bone Bed is important in the history of archaeological discovery as well as a rare example of a stratified ice age Paleo-Indian Clovis culture hunting activity. It is one of the oldest known archaeological sites in Missouri (over 10,000 years ago). Presently, the Clovis culture is the earliest well-documented Native American occupation for North America. Due to its archaeological and paleontological significance, the Kimmswick Bone Bed was placed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 1987.

There are currently no excavations at the site, and remnants of the bone bed are safely buried. Visitors may take Wildflower Trail, which begins near the museum, to the site where the bones and artifacts were found.