SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Shane Van Loon's ice age bison is getting ready for its close-up.

Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photos The remains of a steppe bison - nearly 14,000 years old - will be displayed at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Museum in Yellowknife once conservator Rosalie Scott has finished preparing it for display. -

He found the ancient steppe bison in an embankment below the Roman Catholic Church cemetery in Tsiigehtchic in 2007 and today it is being prepared for display at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, according to assistant director Sarah Carr-Locke.

Van Loon, who lives in Yellowknife but was living in the Gwich'in community at the time, said that on the day of his discovery he was walking along the riverbank around noon.

"There was a slide spot because of the rain. I crawled down in a big hole and I could smell something that really stank, like it was rotting," he said. "And I could see the big bones sticking out of the bank and I could see part of a layer of fur," he said.

Van Loon said he went home and didn't tell anyone about what he'd found. When he returned a few days later much more of the creature had been exposed.

"The bones were so big, and it was buried so far down," he said. "I knew it had to be something prehistoric."

Ingrid Kritsch, research director for the Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute, said she got a good look at the remains while they were in storage at the institute.

"It's extraordinary. The skull itself is just massive," she said. "And the fact that ... I think it's the only such mummified steppe bison ever found in the North."

Carr-Locke said the mummified remains of the steppe bison and the tusk of a mammoth found near Paulatuk will be exhibited within a month. She said there is also a plan to set up an exhibit at Chief Paul Niditchie School in Tsiigehtchic featuring a cast of the animal found by Van Loon.

"I don't think we have a firm opening date," she said. "But we have some really neat things now."

Rosalie Scott, the conservator charged with preserving the objects while they are prepared for the exhibition, said the bison is nearly 14,000 years old and was completely mummified in the banks at the confluence of the Arctic Red River and Mackenzie River. That means the animal's organs, skin and hair are still intact.

"This is like magic," she said, touring her lab on Tuesday. "We have wonderful opportunities to see things that you don't see commonly."

A mammoth tusk from Paulatuk will also make up part of the exhibit. The relic has permafrost to thank for seeing the light of day today as well - only the tip, which is now cracked and decaying, was exposed to the elements. It hasn't been dated yet so it's unclear exactly how old it is.

Reflecting on the nature of her work, Scott said the task of conservation is a mix of science and art.

"It requires hand skills," she said. "You need the science to understand the material you're working with. And treatment requires creativity as well."

The mummy bison was kept frozen until researchers could figure out what they wanted to do with it, said Scott.

"There were pieces of flesh, internal organs, and you can see hair here, still attached," said Scott, pointing to an area of the skull still sporting a light brown tuft. "This is not fossilized."

She explained when prehistoric creatures died in the ancient North their bodies froze and began to sink further into the permafrost with the thaw and freeze-up of each passing year. After a time their bodies became completely preserved and protected against the elements underground. Now that climate change is causing the ground to thaw in places that have previously remained frozen, researchers are beginning to find out what's hidden beneath. However, she said, they need to get out and begin finding the remains quickly or the stories their remains can tell will be lost forever.

"On the surface they'll start to deteriorate," she said.

The hair, now separated from about a square-foot of leathery looking skin, was cleaned of mud which was examined by microbiologists, said Scott.

"It's really quite amazing," she said.

"It's an opportunity for researchers to look into the mud for pollen and that kind of microbiology."

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