A mammoth find Archaeology close to home: digging up mammoth fossil

Short of a time machine, your best chance to see a Columbian mammoth is on a hillside overlooking the Wenas Valley where anthropology students are excavating one that died an estimated 16,000 years ago.

Since the bones were discovered about three years ago, Central Washington University students and professors have uncovered ribs, a shoulder blade, vertebrae and several arm and leg bones of the creature that probably stood about 12 feet tall at the shoulder.

They said they feel like they're digging up the part of history about an animal that died off 4,500 years ago.