Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument
Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument Overview
Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, a United States National Monument near Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, was established in 2014 to protect Ice Age paleontological discoveries.
The 22,650-acre monument is administered by the National Park Service.
The national monument is located in the Upper Las Vegas Wash and protects part of the Tule Springs.
The wash area also includes several patches of the rare Las Vegas bear poppy.
Nevada Historical Marker Transcription
In addition to being a National Monument, Tule Springs is Nevada Historical Marker #86 in the Native American category.
Tule springs is one of the few sites in the United States where evidence suggests the presence of man before 11,000 B.C.
Scientific evidence shows this area, once covered with sagebrush and bordered with yellow-pine forests, had many springs. These springs were centers of activity for both big game animals and human predators. Evidence shown at these fossil springs shows the presence, 14,000 to 111000 years ago, of several extinct animals: the ground sloth, mammoth, prehistoric horse, and American camel. The first Nevada record of the extinct giant condor comes from Tule Springs.
Early man, perhaps living in the valley as early as 13,000 years ago, and definitely present 11,000 years ago, was a hunter of the big game.
Small populations of desert culture people, from about 7,000 years ago to the historic period, depended upon vegetable foods and small game for subsistence.
Late Pleistocene geological stratigraphy in few other areas is as complete and well known.
STATE HISTORICAL MARKER NO. 86
NEVADA STATE PARK SYSTEM
SOUTHERN NEVADA HISTORICAL SOCIETY