Ancient Yellowstone (Season 2)

The Greater Yellowstone Area was once a rich grazing ground for huge Columbian mammoths. Now it’s a prime hunting ground for paleontologists and archaeologists to study the remains of the gargantuan beasts – and their significance to the early Native peoples who hunted them.

Montana’s Hell Creek Formation is home to a trove of late Cretaceous fossils unlike any other in the world revealing the last days of the great dinosaurs. Researchers have now found a complete Triceratops skull that may reveal one of the last prehistoric battles before dinosaurs vanished forever.

Craters of the Moon National Monument is desolate – but 2200 years ago it was the site of today’s Yellowstone Hotspot known for violent eruptions and huge craters. Constantly shifting due to tectonic activity will Yellowstone one day resemble this lifeless place...when the Hotspot moves again?