Mammoth in the Artichokes

Encounter with an Ice Age Landscape in Monterey County and Implication for the First Native Americans

Saturday, September 13, 2025
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM

Presented by Mark Hylkema
Supervisor (Retired), Cultural Resources Program
Santa Cruz District Archaeologist
California State Parks

Join us as we welcome back the very popular Mark Hylkema to discuss the remains of an Ice Age mammal found in our region and the research team that investigated and recovered these remains. His abstract is as follows:

In the spring of 2011, the remains of a Columbian Mammoth were exposed in an artichoke field near the town of Castroville, California. During the grading to create additional planting areas, the operator of the heavy machinery observed bones that turned out to be the partial, but articulated remains of the mammoth, along with fragments of bone representative of other Late Pleistocene (Ice Age) animals. In the hope of finding a link between the mammoth and early ancestral Native Americans, a research team involving many different colleges and universities was organized to learn what we could before active agricultural activities closed the opportunity to investigate. The process of learning about these animals led to a journey of discovery about the landscape and natural history of the Monterey Bay region at the end of the Great Ice Age. This lecture will highlight some of the many insights gained and will share information about the recovery of the remains of creatures that were once on the menu for the first people of the Americas- but have since vanished from our world as if they had never been.

Mark Hylkema’s Bio: Before retiring from State service in 2022, Mark Hylkema managed cultural resources for 32 State Parks within the Santa Cruz District- from San Francisco to the Pajaro River. Mark has also worked on many archaeological projects throughout the state and has over 44 years of experience in California archaeology, with an emphasis on Native American culture. He has published extensively in journals and books focused on the archaeology of North America. In addition to his work for State Parks, he was an adjunct professor of Anthropology at Foothill College, and has taught anthropology courses at Santa Clara University, University of California at Santa Cruz, De Anza College, Ohlone College and Cabrillo College. Mark was the President of the Society for California Archaeology during the 2015/2016 term. He’ll connect the lives and diet of the first indigenous people with the huge animals that roamed this area at the time of the Ice Age, and uncover a completely different landscape and a fascinating natural history of the Monterey Bay region.