A perfect storm of events has led to a unique discovery in life for a gold miner, a first nation, a veteran paleontologist and a territory.
“I don’t know how to process it all now, to be honest with you. It’s amazing,” said Dr. Grant Zazula, a Yukon government paleontologist.
Shortly after noon on June 21, National Indigenous Peoples Day, a young miner working in Yureon’s Eureka Creek, south of Dawson City, was digging mud with a front loader when he hit something.
He stopped and called his boss who went to see him right away.
When he arrived, Brian McCaughan of Treadstone Mining stopped the operation at the time.
In half an hour, Zazula received a picture of the discovery.
According to Zazula, the miner had made the “most important discovery in paleontology in North America.”
It was an entire woolly mammoth, only the second ever found in the world and the first in North America.
“It has a trunk. It has a tail. It has tiny ears. It has the small prehensile end of the trunk where I could use it to take grass,” Zazula said.
“She’s perfect and she’s beautiful.”
“It’s perfect and it’s beautiful,” said Yukon government paleontologist Dr. Grant Zazula of Nun cho ga, the first whole woolly mammoth found in North America and the second in the world. You can see its well-preserved trunk, ears and tail. (Yukon Government)
The paleontologist began studying ice age in the Yukon in 1999.
“And that’s been something I’ve always dreamed of, seeing it face to face. This week, that dream has come true.”
For the Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin, in whose land the woolly mammoth was found, the discovery was just as important and just as exciting.
“We are all very excited, including the elderly and many staff members and members,” said Debbie Nagano, heritage director of the Tr’ondëk Hwëchʼin government.
“He would have been lost in the storm”
National Indigenous Peoples Day is a legal holiday in the Yukon, so when Zazula received the email, he tried to contact anyone he could find in Dawson City who could help.
Two geologists, one from the Yukon Geological Survey and another from the University of Calgary, were able to drive to the creek and retrieve the woolly mammoth and make a complete geological description and sampling of the site.
“And the most amazing thing is that within an hour of being there to do the work, the sky opened up, it turned black, the lightning started to fall and the rain started to fall,” Zazula said.
“So if he hadn’t recovered at the time, he would have been lost in the storm.”
A group of people gather at the site where Nun cho ga was discovered at the Treadstone mine at Eureka Creek in the Klondike. (Klondike Placer Miners Association)
The baby woolly mammoth, called Nun cho ga, meaning “big baby animal” in the Hän language of Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin, is about 140 cm long, which is slightly longer than the other woolly mammoth found in Siberia. , Russia, May 2007.
Zazula believes Nun cho ga was probably between 30 and 35 days old when he died. According to the geology of the site, Zazula is believed to have died between 35,000 and 40,000 years ago.
“So he died during the last ice age and found himself in the permafrost,” Zazula said.
She said the geologists who recovered it saw a piece of the animal’s gut with grass.
“This is telling us what he did in the last moments of his life,” Zazula said.
He said the mammoth was probably a few steps from his mother, but he ventured a bit, eating grass and drinking water and got stuck in the mud.
“And that event, from getting stuck in the mud to the funeral, was very, very quick,” he said.
Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in blessing
After Nun cho ga was recovered from the mining site, she was taken to a nearby place where a ceremony took place.
Led by the elders of Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, some 15 or 16 people — members of Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, scientists, miners, and politicians — gathered in a circle and prayed as Nun cho ga revealed himself from the canvas. where he had been. wrapped up.
“It was very powerful,” said Nagano, who added that the elders blessed the woolly mammoth.
Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin citizens and representatives of the Yukon government, the Treadstone mine and the University of Calgary pose with Nun cho ga. (Yukon government)
Peggy Kormendy, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in’s elder, said she was out of breath when the canvas was removed.
“We all have to treat him with respect. When that happens, he will be powerful and we will heal,” he said.
“There will be something that stands out in a person’s entire life and I can guarantee you that this is my only thing,” McCaughan of Treadstone Mining said.
University of Alberta paleontologist Michael Caldwell, who did not attend the ceremony, said he is fascinated by how time can hold such moving stories.
“It’s kind of a miracle preserved to this day, a scientific gold mine and just a beautiful thing. For all paleontologists, that’s amazing, but for those working on these things it’s awesome,” he said.
Zazula is still overwhelmed by the finding.
“It will take days, weeks and months to sink in and it will take days, weeks and months to work with Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in to decide what to do and learn from it.”