NRHP Reference # 79001461 Added to NRHP 20 April 1979 | Area 3.978 km² Nearest city Las Vegas | |
Tule Springs Archaeological Site is an archeological site listed on the National Register of Historic Places that is located in the Las Vegas Valley of Nevada. It is one of a few sites in the United States where humans were once thought to have lived alongside, and potentially hunted, extinct Ice Age megafauna, although this view is not supported by the available scientific data and is no longer generally accepted.
The archeological site is marked as Nevada Historical Marker 86 and is located within the Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs which is operated by the City of Las Vegas.
History
In 1933, the Tule Springs Expedition, led by Fenley Hunter, was the first major effort to explore the archaeological importance of the area surrounding Tule Springs.
The Nevada State Museum explored the springs area in 1962 and 1963 confirming that the area was home to Ice Age species as well as early North American Paleo-Indian peoples. Richard Shutler directed the project, and Vance Haynes studied the sedimentary layers, using radiocarbon dating to determine their ages. Animals discovered include ground sloths, mammoths, prehistoric horses, American camels and the first giant condors found in Nevada.
The springs site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 20, 1979.