Hemet's most famous fossil bones are its mastodons.
In the mid-1990s Hemet, California, was the site of a huge fossil discovery. In 2009, Riverside County experienced a second significant fossil discovery, north of Hemet in the San Timoteo Canyon. Both sets of discoveries are displayed in Hemet's state-of-the-art Western Science Center (westerncentermuseum.org). Hemet's fossil bones occupy a space between true dinosaurs and modern animal life. These are the creatures of the Ice Age. This Pleistocene Era ran from 1.8 million to 10,000 years ago.
History and Significance
Mammoth bones were found at Hemet's Diamond Valley Lake.
In 1995, construction began on Hemet's Diamond Valley Lake Reservoir. During excavation, a huge volume of Ice Age fossils were unearthed. These included species previously unknown in Southern California. The Riverside County fossils are about 1 million years older than California's previously most significant fossil finds at La Brea Tar Pits. Sabertooth cats found at the Hemet site are smaller ancestors of the sabertooth tigers found at La Brea. Hemet also provides a wider cross-section of extinct life than La Brea. The Tar Pits preserved mainly predators. The discoveries in Hemet included fossils ranging from tiny prehistoric rodents to mammoths.
The Hemet Mastodons
So many mastodons were found here that the Hemet area was nicknamed "Valley of the Mastadons." According to the Western Science Center, Hemet is home to both the largest mastodon found in the Western U.S. and the most complete mastodon found in inland Southern California. The largest is "Max", 10 feet high and found in 1995. "Little Stevie," unearthed in 1997, is the most intact. He is 50,0000 years old. Max, Stevie and other fossils found near Hemet are displayed in the glass floor of the Western Science Center, as if in the process of being excavated.
Hemet's Varied Prehistoric Life
"Xena" is one of Hemet's mammoths -- 12 feet high and 10,0000 years old. Hemet also produced 7-foot giant ground sloths as big as today's grizzly bears. Sabertooth cats, prehistoric lions, long-horned bison and extinct forms of camels, wolves and horses were found here. The bones of one horse bear teeth marks of a prehistoric cat. The second site, north of Hemet, produced previously unknown and much older species, as well as more examples of the creatures found at Diamond Valley Lake. Finds north of Hemet included fossils of llamas, deer, panthers, frogs and salamanders. According to Philippe Lapin, lead archaeologist for Southern California Edison, the utility that developed the site, Hemet's fossils demonstrate that this arid area was once lush marshland. This swampy environment preserved the bones exceptionally well.
Hemet's Dinosaur Hunter
Some of the fossils displayed in Hemet's Western Science Center were discovered by local dinosaur hunter Harley Garbani. Garbani, a plumber and amateur fossil enthusiast, lived for 85 years in the Hemet area, and died in the area in 2011. Credited with some of the world's most significant dinosaur finds, Garbani had two new species of prehistoric creature named after him. Garbani's fossils are displayed in museums in California and Montana, and his finds include the world's most intact T-Rex and youngest triceratops, which he found on expeditions in Montana.
Tags: Science Center, Western Science, Western Science Center, Diamond Valley, Diamond Valley Lake
