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Ancient fossils discovered near LV ? Amateurs and experts launch a dig to verify an used 12,000 years ago. By Keith Rogers Review-Journal Some amateur fossil buffs said Mon­day they ? have discovered ? what could . be the first evidence that ancient man hunted; elephants in what is' now Ne* : vada, They said they have uncovered a spearpoint or blade fashioned out of agate that is lying among the teeth of an extinct species of elephant north-west- of ;Las. Vegas, as-if an ancient hunter wounded the beast in its cheek. The find, if confirmed through fur­ther investigation, would be the first 'evidence ?' that-. • ancient man ? ? hunted th^se prehistoric animals in what is now Nevada some 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, according to experts who visited the'dig site anddescribed it as - an important find, ‘1 think it has the making of a very significant paleontological and ar­chaeological; -site/.' • said:? Mark"'Ryz-. dynski, an archaeologist who is cura­tor of the Clark County Heritage Museum and who visited the site§Pri- Fossil Finders Club of Southern Nevada who led the dig, said she believes the find proves., “without a shadow of a doubt man was M th' t|iese mammothsC “All digging is stopping until we decide where to go. Profession­als will be taking over from here,'? said Rringhurst, while oth­er mem hers of the club brushed soil away from a tusk and some mammoth teeth at the bottom of Teeth of an ancient mammoth with a ' ^ r ::t>iad!e*: ar? right are brushed by a member of the Fossil Finders Club of Southern Nevada. a ary spring For two months, a dozen club day with other scien||sts,. • •<fiiVhat:;wo;;see so'far suggests the possibilitydfthatlinkage''betw een the region^ earliest known inhabit­ants — aborigines -—‘ and the hunting of ancient elephants, or mammoths, ; Ryzdynski said.' members carefully unearthed a 5- foot by 5 -foot sect ion of the sp.ri ng bed, using white cord pinned down by yellow tent stakes to : keeptrackofbones .and''artifacts, While keeping the location se­cret, they either cataloged'' or .'re­moved 173 items, including 100 • 41 animal remains; the spearpoint; some pottery; and possibly some ancient charcoal; a sloth claw; camel teeth and ocher — a red­dish brown clay believed to be used for paint, according to Doris Walt Lombardo, a state geologist who joined Ryzdynski at the dig, said, “'We're not talking about about one or two m am pths, We’re talking about a half dozen of the cri LaRae Bringhurst, a member of the ' ? Ptea$a ; see FQSSILS/2A Currington, who served as cura­tor for the dig. Club member Ray Barnes of Las Vegas said he had been dig­ging about 1 Vi hours on Dec. 14 when he came across what he said is an agate spearpoint that appears to be lodged in the mouth of a juvenile mammoth. “I was mostly stunned,” Barnes said, recalling his thoughts. “LaRae^ Bringhurst) was scream­ing for at least a minute.”