Late Pleistocene Ingleside Fauna
Ingleside, San Patricio County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Known today as Swan Lake, this is the site of an archeological excavation that yielded one of the largest assortments of fossils found in a single locality in Texas. They were discovered in 1939 when highway engineers were digging for caliche to use in road building. Between 1939 and 1941 the fossils of 42 prehistoric vertebrates were excavated and sorted. Fossils found here represented such animals as the mammoth, saber-toothed tiger, bison, ground sloth, camel, alligator, tapir, and various species of fresh water fish. (1984)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When highway engineers dug for caliche near what is now Swan Lake in 1939, they uncovered one of the richest fossil deposits ever found at a single Texas site. Over the next two years, excavators recovered the remains of 42 species of Ice Age vertebrates—mammoth, saber-toothed cat, ground sloth, camel, bison, tapir, and more. The find opened a remarkable window onto the Late Pleistocene world that flourished along the Gulf Coast long before human settlement.
Why it matters
The Ingleside fauna is a nationally significant paleontological record, preserving the vanished Ice Age ecosystem that once roamed the American Gulf Coast.
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Related events
- · Excavation of the Ingleside fossil site (1939–1941)
Themes & tags
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