View source for Big Bone Lick State Park

{{Short description|State park in Boone County, Kentucky}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox park
| name = Big Bone Lick State Park
| photo = Bigbonelick.jpg
| photo_width = 280
| photo_caption = 
| type = [[List of Kentucky state parks|Kentucky state park]]
| location = [[Boone County, Kentucky]]
| nearest_city = [[Union, Kentucky]]
| map = Kentucky#USA
| map_caption = Location in Kentucky
| map_width = 280
| coords = {{coord|38|53|13|N|84|44|52|W|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| area = {{convert|525|acre}}<ref name=history/>
| elevation = {{convert|469|ft}}<ref>{{cite gnis|487084|Big Bone Lick State Park}}</ref>
| created = 1960<ref name=history/><ref name=kye>{{cite book |editor=Kleber, John E. |others=Associate editors: [[Thomas D. Clark]], Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter |title=''The Kentucky Encyclopedia'' |year=1992 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |location=[[Lexington, Kentucky]] |isbn=0-8131-1772-0 |chapter=Big Bone Lick}}</ref>
| operator = Kentucky Department of Parks
| visitation_num = 
| status = 
| open = Year-round
| embedded = {{Infobox NRHP | embed = yes | name = 
  | nrhp_type = nhl
  | built = 
  | added = June 13, 1972
  | refnum = 72001585 (NRHP nomination)<br>100011352 (NHL designation)<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
  | designated_nrhp_type = December 13, 2024
  }}
  {{designation list |embed=yes |designation1=NNL |designation1_date=2009}}
}}
{{Portal|Paleontology}}
'''Big Bone Lick State Park''' is located at [[Big Bone, Kentucky|Big Bone]] in [[Boone County, Kentucky]]. The name of the park comes from the [[Pleistocene megafauna]] [[fossil]]s found there.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Big Bone Lick State Park - Ice Age Mammoths of Kentucky - The Birthplace of American Paleontology|url=https://www.fossilguy.com/sites/big-bone-lick/index.htm|access-date=January 8, 2022|website=www.fossilguy.com|language=en-us}}</ref> [[Mammoth]]s are believed to have been drawn to this location by a [[salt lick]] deposited around the sulfur springs.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xs4LAJdUqlUC&q=%22anderson+ferry%22&pg=PA138 | title=Shifra Stein's Day Trips from Cincinnati: Getaways Less Than Two Hours Away | publisher=Globe Pequot | date=October 1, 2003 | access-date=April 25, 2013 | author=Hunter, David | pages=138 | isbn=9780762727490 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>  Other animals including forms of [[bison]], [[caribou]], [[deer]], [[elk]], [[horse]], [[mastodon]], [[musk ox]], [[peccary]], [[ground sloth]]s, [[Wolf|wolves]], [[American black bear|black bears]], [[Cervalces scotti|stag moose]], [[Machairodontinae|saber-toothed cats]], and possibly [[tapir]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/quatern.htm |title=Quaternary Period |work=Kentucky Geological Survey |publisher=University of Kentucky |access-date=March 17, 2014}}</ref> also grazed the vegetation and salty earth around the springs that the animals relied on for their diet.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mammalia, Fossils, Kentucky Geological Survey, University of Kentucky|url=http://www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/fossil-mammals.php|access-date=January 8, 2022|website=www.uky.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Big Bone Lick and Benjamin Frankin and Thomas Jefferson|url=https://www.uky.edu/KGS/education/did-big-bone-lick-ice-age-mammals.php|access-date=January 8, 2022|website=www.uky.edu}}</ref> The majority of fossils found in the area have been dated to the [[Wisconsin Glacial Period]] (c. 115,000 – c. 11,700 years ago).<ref name = "Hedeen"/> Human burials and other signs of human habitation have also been uncovered.<ref name = "Kentucky"/>

==History==
[[File:BIG BONE LICK STATE PARK.jpg|thumb|right|Statue of a [[woolly mammoth]] stuck in the soft earth, showing how the fossils were created.]]The [[salt lick]], or lick, as it is more generally known locally, and its [[fossil]] deposits, were long known to the original inhabitants of the area.<ref>{{cite web | title=Be part of something mammoth at Big Bone Lick | website=Cincinnati.com | date=September 4, 2017 | url=https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/local/boone-county/2017/09/04/part-something-mammoth-big-bone-lick/105274806/ | access-date=September 25, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Rafinesque Boewe 2005"/> The area was named after the extraordinarily large bones, including those of [[mammoths]] and [[mastodons]], found in the [[swamps]] around the salt lick frequented by animals, who need [[salt]] in their diets.<ref name="Rafinesque Boewe 2005">{{cite book | last1=Rafinesque | first1=C.S. | last2=Boewe | first2=C. | title=A C.S. Rafinesque Anthology | publisher=McFarland | year=2005 | isbn=978-0-7864-2147-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Xub9N6gGwMC&pg=PA32 | language=es | access-date=September 25, 2018 | page=32}}</ref> The [[mineral springs]] are created by water flowing through the underlying formations of [[limestone]] and [[shale]], where the trapped salts are dissolved and carried, in solution, to the surface, creating a [[brine spring]].<ref name = "Register"/>{{rp|6–7}} The area near the springs was very soft and marshy causing many animals to become stuck with no way to escape.<ref name="history">{{cite web |url=http://parks.ky.gov/parks/historicsites/big-bone-lick/history.aspx |title=History |work=Big Bone Lick State Historic Site |publisher=Kentucky Department of Parks |access-date=March 17, 2014 |archive-date=March 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317213932/http://parks.ky.gov/parks/historicsites/big-bone-lick/history.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== 18th century ===

The site may have been visited as early as 1739 by Captain [[Charles le Moyne de Longueuil, Baron de Longueuil]].<ref name = "Simpson">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1298857 George Gaylord Simpson, "The Discovery of Fossil Vertebrates in North America," ''Journal of Paleontology,'' Vol. 17, No. 1, Jan., 1943, pp. 26-38]</ref>{{rp|31}}<ref name="Hay Wells Appleton Appleton 2002">{{cite book | last1=Hay | first1=M.P. | last2=Wells | first2=D. | last3=Appleton | first3=T.H. | last4=Appleton | first4=T.H. | title=Roadside History: A Guide to Kentucky Highway Markers | publisher=Kentucky Historical Society | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-916968-29-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-bl4FNDXxqQC&pg=PA3 | access-date=September 25, 2018 | page=3}}</ref><ref>[http://www.friendsofbigbone.org/2002/03/21/explorers-of-big-bone/ Explorers of Big Bone]</ref> He took the fossils he recovered back to France with him the next year and donated them to the natural history museum in the [[Jardin des Plantes]].<ref name = "Franklin">[https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-14-02-0019 "List of Fossils Sent by George Croghan to the Earl of Shelburne and Benjamin Franklin, 7 February 1767," Founders Online, National Archives. ''The Papers of Benjamin Franklin,'' vol. 14, January 1 through December 31, 1767, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1970, pp. 25–29.]</ref>

On March 13, 1750, [[Christopher Gist]] stopped at Big Bone Lick<ref name = "Simpson"/>{{rp|34}} and wrote in his journal:

:"Wednesday 13. — We set out...down the said River on the SE Side...I met two men belonging to Robert Smith at whose House I lodged...The said Robt. Smith had given me an order upon these men for two of the teeth of a large Beest, which they were bringing from towards the Falls of the Ohio, one of which I turned in and delivered to the Ohio Company...The tooth which I brought in...was a Jaw toothe of better Weight than four Pounds; it appeared to be the furtherest Tooth in the Jaw, and looked Like Fine Ivory when the outside was scraped off."<ref>[http://donchesnut.com/genealogy/pages/gistjournal.pdf ''The Journal of Christopher Gist, 1750–1751,'' From Lewis P. Summers, 1929, ''Annals of Southwest Virginia,'' 1769–1800. Abingdon, VA. Electronic version © by Donald Chesnut, 2000]</ref>{{rp|12}}

Gist is referring to Robert Smith, an Indian trader, who may have visited Big Bone Lick as early as 1744.<ref name = "Simpson"/>{{rp|35}}<ref name="Hay Wells Appleton Appleton 2002"/>

[[Mary Draper Ingles]], a frontier settler, was captured by Shawnee Indians on July 30, 1755, and taken to [[Lower Shawneetown]]. After two weeks there, she was taken to Big Bone Lick and put to work boiling [[brine]] to make salt, which the Shawnee sold or traded for other goods. In late October, Ingles persuaded another woman to escape with her and they walked over {{convert|600 |miles}} to her home in what is now [[Blacksburg, Virginia]].<ref name = "Duvall">{{cite book|url=http://bcplfusion.bcpl.org/Repository/Mary_Ingles_and_the_Escape_from_Big_Bone_Lick.pdf|author=Duvall, James|title=Mary Ingles and the Escape from Big Bone Lick|publisher=Boone County Public Library|date=2009|access-date=April 3, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313022438/http://bcplfusion.bcpl.org/Repository/Mary_Ingles_and_the_Escape_from_Big_Bone_Lick.pdf|archive-date=March 13, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1=Tenkotte | first1=P.A. | last2=Claypool | first2=J.C. | title=The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky | publisher=University Press of Kentucky | series=EBSCO ebook academic collection | year=2015 | isbn=978-0-8131-5996-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zc0eBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA478 | access-date=September 25, 2018 | page=478}}</ref>

In 1762, amateur naturalist James Wright wrote to [[John Bartram]] describing the Big Bone Lick and some of the fossils there, although he had not been there himself, and had heard about them from the Indians:
:"There appear to be the remains of 5 Entire Sceletons, with their heads All pointing towards Each other, And near together, suppos'd to have fallen at the same time...Their heads, of which two were larger than the rest, one of these, they said a Man Could but Just Grasp in Both his Arms, with a long Nose, And the Mouth on the underside...They Judged the Creature when Alive must have been the Size of a Small House."<ref name = "Simpson"/>{{rp|36}}

[[File:BLW Mastodon Tooth.jpg|thumb|right|Anatomist [[William Hunter (anatomist)|William Hunter]] suggested in 1768 that this mastodon tooth came from an extinct type of carnivorous elephant.]]Indian trader [[George Croghan]] visited Big Bone Lick in May 1765 and took two six-foot tusks and several other fossil bones, but when he was attacked by Indians a few days later, he lost all his belongings. He returned to Big Bone Lick in June 1766, and collected a number of bones which he took back with him to New York and sent to [[Benjamin Franklin]] as a gift.<ref>[https://www.uky.edu/KGS/education/did-big-bone-lick-benjamin-unknown-animals.php "Benjamin Franklin and the unknown animal," The Kentucky Geological Survey, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 2023]</ref> The bones were first examined by botanist [[Peter Collinson (botanist)|Peter Collinson]] who pronounced them "the carcasses of drowned elephants," who had died, according to Collinson, during [[The Deluge]] described in [[the Book of Genesis]]. Anatomist [[William Hunter (anatomist)|William Hunter]] examined the bones and suggested that they came from an extinct species of carnivorous elephant, which became known as "the American ''[[incognitum]]''".<ref>{{cite magazine|last= Conniff|first= Richard|title= Mammoths and Mastodons: All American Monsters|url= http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Mammoths-and-Mastodons-All-American-Monsters.html|magazine= Smithsonian Magazine|access-date =October 4, 2023|date= April 2010}}</ref> Naturalist [[Georges Cuvier]] decided that they belonged to an extinct ancestor of the elephant, which Cuvier named "''Mastodontes''." The idea that any species ever became extinct was revolutionary at this time.<ref name = "Franklin"/>

[[Daniel Boone]] reportedly visited Big Bone Lick between May and July 1770, after having been captured and released by Shawnee Indians. According to [[Lyman Draper]], Boone "examined the wonderful fossil remains of mammoth found there."<ref>{{cite book | last1=Draper | first1=L.C. | last2=Belue | first2=T.F. | title=The Life of Daniel Boone | publisher=Stackpole Books | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-8117-0979-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6npr_LGJH-cC&pg=PA205 | access-date=September 25, 2018 | page=}}</ref>{{rp|244}} On June 15, 1775, [[Nicholas Cresswell]] visited Big Bone Lick, then called "Elephant Bone Lick". His diary entry reads, in part:
:"Found several bones of a prodigious size, I take them to be Elephants, for we found a part of a tusk, about two foot long, Ivory to all appearance, but by length of time had grown yellow and very soft. All of us stripped and went into the pond to grabble for teeth and found several. Joseph Passiers found a jaw tooth which he gave me. It was judged by the company to weigh 10 pound. I got a shell of a Tusk of hard and good ivory about eighteen inches long. There is a great number of bones in a Bank on the side of this pond of an enormous size but decayed and rotten. Ribs 9 inches broad, Thigh bones 10 inches diameter. What sort of animals these were is not clearly known."<ref>[https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/gdc/lhbtn/30436/30436.pdf MacVeagh, L. (1924) ''The Journal of Nicholas Cresswell 1774–1777,'' Dial Press, The Plimpton Press, Norwood, MA 1924]</ref>{{rp|88}}

In 1795 future president [[William Henry Harrison]] collected 13 [[hogsheads]] full of fossils, all of which were lost when the barge carrying them sank on the Ohio River.<ref name = "Kentucky">{{cite book | last1=Tenkotte | first1=P.A. | last2=Claypool | first2=J.C. | title=The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky | publisher=University Press of Kentucky | series=EBSCO ebook academic collection | year=2015 | isbn=978-0-8131-5996-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zc0eBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 | access-date=September 30, 2023 | page=}}</ref>{{rp|88}}

=== 19th century ===

[[File:Thomas Jefferson to George Rogers Clark fossils 1807.jpg|thumb|right|1807 letter from Thomas Jefferson to [[George Rogers Clark]] requesting that the bones Rogers had collected at Big Bone Lick be packed and shipped to a New Orleans collector, who would then forward them to Washington.]]In 1803 physician [[William Goforth (doctor)|William Goforth]] excavated a large number of bones at Big Bone Lick and sold them in Europe, although the money was stolen from him. Goforth described his finds to [[Meriwether Lewis]] who wrote a lengthy description of the bones to [[Thomas Jefferson]].<ref>Lewis to Thomas Jefferson, October 3, 1803, in Donald Jackson, ed., [https://books.google.com/books?id=LZ86BlGD_mkC ''Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents, 1783–1854,''] University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1962; 1:126-132.</ref> Lewis visited Big Bone Lick in late 1803 and retrieved a number of bones, all of which were lost or stolen.<ref name = "Hedeen">[https://books.google.com/books?id=jecSEAAAQBAJ Hedeen, Stanley. ''Big Bone Lick: The Cradle of American Paleontology.'' University Press of Kentucky, 2021.]</ref>{{rp|89}} In September 1807 Lewis's friend [[William Clark]], accompanied by his brother [[George Rogers Clark]],<ref>[http://www.friendsofbigbone.org/2006/06/13/william-clark-at-big-bone/ "William Clark at Big Bone," Friends of Big Bone]</ref> visited Big Bone Lick and removed over 300 bones and teeth, which he sent to Jefferson with an eleven-page description.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Davis | first=R. A. | title=Big Bone! Kentucky's Original Stick-in-the-Mud | journal=Rocks & Minerals | volume=56 | issue=3 | year=1981 | issn=0035-7529 | doi=10.1080/00357529.1981.11767296 | pages=115–118 }}</ref> Jefferson donated some of the bones to the [[National Museum of Natural History, France|Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle]] in Paris and the [[Academy of Natural Sciences]] in Philadelphia.<ref>[https://www.americanscientist.org/article/jeffersons-old-bones Keith Thomson, "Jefferson's Old Bones: Did the so-called father of American vertebrate paleontology believe in fossils?" ''American Scientist,'' Vol 99, No 3, May-June 2011]</ref> Studies of the bones allowed naturalists to distinguish between mastodons and mammoths and a few other species found in the collection.<ref>[https://lewis-clark.org/the-trail/down-the-ohio/big-bone-lick/ Earle E. Spamer and Richard M. McCourt, "Big Bone Lick: Collecting Fossils for Thomas Jefferson," Discover Lewis and Clark: The Trail, Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, 2023]</ref> Jefferson's own private collection was unfortunately ground into fertilizer by a servant.<ref name = "Schultz">[https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/2c6ded52-5a89-4160-8f8b-5cc510bfd9a4/ C. Bertrand Schultz, Lloyd G. Tanner, Frank Whitmore, and Ellis Crawford, "Big Bone Lick, Kentucky: A Pictorial Story of the Paleontological Excavations at this Famous Fossil Locality from 1962 to 1966," in ''Museum Notes from the University of Nebraska State Museum,'' no. 33, March 1967]</ref>{{rp|5}}

Clark also found three [[Clovis spear points]], which indicated that early Native Americans had hunted in the area.<ref name = "Kentucky"/>{{rp|88}} One mastodon bone was unearthed with a noticeable cut mark on it, implying that the [[Clovis culture|Clovis people]] lived in the area thousands of years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tankersley|first1=Kenneth B.|last2=Waters|first2=Michael R.|last3=Stafford|first3=Thomas W.|date=July 2009|title=Clovis and the American Mastodon at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0002731600048757|journal=American Antiquity|volume=74|issue=3|pages=558–567|doi=10.1017/s0002731600048757|issn=0002-7316|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

[[File:Medical and physical researches, or, Original memoirs in medicine, surgery, physiology, geology, zoology, and comparative anatomy (1835) (14776367822).jpg|thumb|right|Bones of ''[[Paramylodon]]'' collected from Big Bone Lick and identified as ''Megalonyx laqueatus'' in 1831 by [[Richard Harlan]].]]The Clay House, a resort hotel, opened nearby in 1815, offering visitors an opportunity to bathe in the supposedly medicinal salt mineral springs. It quickly became popular among naturalists, who came to find bones for museums or private collections. Notable visitors included Yale professor [[Benjamin Silliman]] and natural history professor [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque|Constantine S. Rafinesque]],<ref>{{cite book | last1=Ramage | first1=J. | last2=Watkins | first2=A.S. | title=Kentucky Rising: Democracy, Slavery, and Culture from the Early Republic to the Civil War | publisher=University Press of Kentucky | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-8131-3440-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2FWot7ikWqMC&pg=PA381 | access-date=September 25, 2018 | page=381}}</ref> among others. The Clay House closed in 1830.<ref name = "Kentucky"/>{{rp|88}}<ref>[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-antiquity/article/abs/clovis-and-the-american-mastodon-at-big-bone-lick-kentucky/361BDB48907FC5649B34EF2B14BB9B95 Kenneth B. Tankersley, Michael R. Waters, and Thomas W. Stafford Jr. "Clovis and the American Mastodon at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky," ''American Antiquity,'' Volume 74, Issue 3; Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2017]</ref>

In 1831, paleontologist [[Richard Harlan]] identified a new species of [[giant sloth]], ''Megalonyx laqueatus'', from bones found at Big Bone Lick.<ref name = "Harlan1">Richard Harlan, "Description of the jaws, teeth, and clavicle of the Megalonyx laqueatus." ''The Monthly American journal of geology and natural science,'' 1:1831, pp. 74–76</ref><ref name="Harlan2">Richard Harlan, "Description of the jaws, teeth, and clavicle of the Megalonyx laqueatus," ''Medical and physical researches,'' 1835, pp. 334–336</ref> In 1840, the species was renamed ''Mylodon harlani'' to honor Harlan, and is now known as ''[[Paramylodon harlani]]''.<ref>[https://equatorialminnesota.blogspot.com/2020/05/on-mis-location-of-giant-sloth.html Justin Tweet, "On the mis-location of a giant sloth," ''Equatorial Minnesota,'' May 3, 2020]</ref>

By the mid-19th century most of the fossils had been removed, and in 1868 paleontologist [[Nathaniel Southgate Shaler]] conducted an extensive excavation to remove all remaining fossils and take them to the Harvard [[Museum of Comparative Zoology]] for study.<ref name = "Kentucky"/>{{rp|88}} Despite this, Dr. Christopher Columbus Graham, at the advanced age of 93, began excavations in 1877. Graham wrote in an article for the ''[[Louisville Courier]]'', "The Mammoth’s Graveyard," that he spent thirty days at the site while ten men dug up the fossils. He collected seven barrels of bones and teeth of mastodons and mammoths, as well as buffalo skulls and the remains of bear, wolf and cougar.<ref name = "Hedeen"/>{{rp|130}} Graham corresponded with [[Charles Darwin]] and English geologist Sir [[Charles Lyell]],<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/item/09029976/ Charles Lyell, ''Travels in North America in the Years 1841–1842.'' New York: Charles E. Merrill, 1909.]</ref>{{rp|139–144}} (who had visited the site in 1841) regarding Big Bone Lick.<ref>[https://www.sos.ky.gov/land/resources/articles/Documents/Graham.pdf Michael G. Adams, "Christopher Columbus Graham: An Extraordinary Kentuckian," 2013]</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Shook | first=J.R. | title=Dictionary of Early American Philosophers | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | series=The Dictionary of Early American Philosophers | year=2012 | isbn=978-1-4411-7140-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oOqoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA456 | access-date=September 25, 2018 | page=456}}</ref>

=== 20th century ===

In 1932, [[William Snyder Webb]] and William Funkhouser conducted an extensive [[Survey (archaeology)|archaeological survey]] of Big Bone Lick, which uncovered two prehistoric [[burial mounds]] and a cemetery of uncertain age.<ref name = "Register">[https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/fa5f134d-121d-4301-8d92-db6b65ec7acd "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Big Bone Lick State Park," United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, February 2000]</ref>

From 1962 to 1967 the [[University of Nebraska–Lincoln|University of Nebraska]] conducted excavations, seeking any remaining fossils and attempting to determine the age and ecological context of the mammoths and mastodons that had died there.<ref name = "Kentucky"/>{{rp|88}} Over 2,000 fossils were uncovered and identified,<ref name = "Hedeen"/>{{rp|138}} including the bones of the [[giant ground sloth]] (''[[Mylodon harlani]]'' and ''[[Megalonyx jeffersoni]]''), [[tapir]] (''[[Tapirus haysii]]''), [[mastodon]] (''[[Mammut americanum]]''), large bison (''[[Bison antiquus]]''), [[musk ox]] (''[[Bootherium]]'' sp.), giant moose-like deer (''[[Cervalces scotti]]''), [[caribou]] (''[[Rangifer (genus)|Rangifer]]'' sp.), elk (''[[Cervus canadensis]]''), [[woolly mammoth]] (''[[Elephas primigenius]]'' and ''[[Elephas columbi]]''), and horse (''[[Equus (genus)|Equus]]'' spp.).<ref>[https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1243&context=usgsstaffpub Schultz, C. Bertrand; Tanner, Lloyd G.; Whitmore, Frank C. Jr.; Ray, Louis L.; and Crawford, Ellis C., "Paleontologic Investigations at Big Bone Lick State Park, Kentucky: A Preliminary Report" (1963). ''Science,'' New Series, Vol. 142, No. 3596 Nov. 29, 1963, pp. 1167-1169]</ref> These fossils were dated to the [[Wisconsin Glacial Period]] (c. 115,000 – c. 11,700 years ago) and are now on display at the [[University of Nebraska State Museum]].<ref name = "Schultz"/>{{rp|13–14}}<ref name = "Register"/>{{rp|6}} The team also found an [[Archaic period (North America)|Early Archaic]] spearpoint dated to between 8,000 and 10,000 years old.<ref name = "Hedeen"/>{{rp|138}}

Excavations in 1981 uncovered the burials of an adult male and a child, as well as a number of [[earth oven]]s and the remains of a house dating to the [[Archaic period (North America)|Late Archaic]] period. In 1993, an excavation uncovered stone tools, cores, and [[debitage]], limestone tempered and shell tempered ceramics, fire-cracked rock, and faunal remains, including bison teeth.<ref>Timothy S. Dalbey, ed. ''Guidebook No. 11: Key Archaeological Sites in Northern Kentucky and Southern Ohio,'' prepared for the 1992 Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America, Columbus: 2007</ref>{{rp|45–48}} The tools and ceramics were recovered from a large pit and were determined to be [[Late Woodland]] and [[Fort Ancient]] types. The investigators concluded that the feature was "established and used by Late Woodland people, and that the locality was subsequently occupied by Fort Ancient people after an indeterminate period." It appears likely that Paleo-Indian groups visited the site to make salt by boiling brine, as salt was an important trade item.<ref name = "Register"/>

=== History of the park ===

In 1950 the [[Boone County Historical Society]] was organized and began considering the possibility of creating a park in the area. The Big Bone Lick Historical Association was formed in 1953, and in 1956 purchased 16.66 acres of land, which they deeded to the Kentucky State Commissioner for conservation. In December 1960, the Kentucky Department of Parks began constructing picnic areas, a shelter, and a parking lot. By 1962, the purchase of additional land brought the size of the park to 175 acres. The park was listed in 1972 on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. The Big Bone Lick Historic Site Museum was constructed in 1990 at a cost of $4 million.<ref name = "Kentucky"/>{{rp|88}} By 2000, the park had reached its current size of 512 acres.<ref name = "Register"/>{{rp|11}}

In 2002, the [[National Park Service]] designated Big Bone Lick State Park as an official [[Lewis and Clark]] Heritage Trail Site.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.kypost.com/2002/10/19/bone101902.html |title=Big Bone Lick: Books, awards and festival give pride of Boone County its due |author=David Wecker|work=[[The Cincinnati Post|The Kentucky Post]] |publisher=[[E. W. Scripps Company]] |date=October 19, 2002 |access-date=February 5, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060511123942/http://www.kypost.com/2002/10/19/bone101902.html |archive-date=May 11, 2006}}</ref> The park was listed as a [[National Natural Landmark]] in February 2009. It bills itself as "the birthplace of American [[paleontology]]".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CaoP8Yv_6ykC&q=creation+museum+cincinnati&pg=PA86 | title=And On the Sixth Day, God Created Paleontologists | work=Cincinnati Magazine | date=November 2009 | access-date=May 18, 2013 | author=Vaccariello, Linda | pages=86}}</ref> The park was further given [[National Historic Landmark]] designation in 2024.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/weekly-list-2024-12-20.htm|title=WEEKLY LIST OF ACTIONS TAKEN ON PROPERTIES: 12/16/2024 THROUGH 12/18/2024 |publisher=National Park Service|accessdate=2024-12-22}}</ref>

==Activities and amenities==
The visitors center (opened 2004) features indoor and outdoor exhibits of fossils, [[Visual art of the United States|American art]], and a 1,000 [[pound (mass)|pound]] [[mastodon]] skull as well as a gift shop. Exhibits provide information on geology as well as Native American history.<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/places/big-bone-lick-state-historic-site.htm Big Bone Lick State Park, National Park Service]</ref>

The park features several nature trails, including a Discovery Trail that includes a boardwalk around a marsh [[bog]] diorama with recreations of a [[woolly mammoth]], a [[mastodon]], a [[ground sloth]], [[bison]], and scavengers feeding on carcasses and skeletal remains. The Discovery Trail winds through several habitats, including [[grassland]], [[wetland]] and [[savanna]], and is accessible to the physically challenged.

A small [[bison]] herd is also maintained on-site.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McCosham |first=Sarah |date=March 6, 2023 |title=The Baby Bison At This Kentucky State Park Are Beyond Adorable |url=https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/kentucky/spring-baby-bison-ky/ |access-date=March 8, 2023 |website=Only in your State}}</ref>

The park has picnicking facilities and a 62-site campground.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Big Bone Lick}}

==External links==
*[https://parks.ky.gov/union/parks/historic/big-bone-lick-state-historic-site Big Bone Lick State Historic Site] Kentucky Department of Parks
*[https://www.nps.gov/places/big-bone-lick-state-historic-site.htm Big Bone Lick State Park] National Park Service
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060106155510/http://www.acnatsci.org/museum/jefferson/otherPages/bigBoneLick.html Thomas Jefferson Fossil Collection] The Academy of Natural Sciences
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091027012850/http://geocities.com/bigbonehistory/ History and Documents from Big Bone, Kentucky]

{{National Register of Historic Places}}
{{Kentucky Parks}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky]]
[[Category:Protected areas of Boone County, Kentucky]]
[[Category:Paleontology in Kentucky]]
[[Category:State parks of Kentucky]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Boone County, Kentucky]]
[[Category:Cenozoic paleontological sites of North America]]
[[Category:Pleistocene paleontological sites of North America]]
[[Category:Protected areas established in 1960]]
[[Category:Museums in Boone County, Kentucky]]
[[Category:Natural history museums in Kentucky]]
[[Category:National Natural Landmarks in Kentucky]]
[[Category:Geography of Boone County, Kentucky]]
[[Category:1960 establishments in Kentucky]]
[[Category:Fossil parks in the United States]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Kentucky]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in Kentucky]]