Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
NIFFY
During the excavation for NIF, 210,000 cubic yards of earth was removed. While working on utility trenches at the site, the oldest known Livermore Valley resident was discovered. A pre-historic elephant, or mammoth, was unearthed right where the NIF was to be built.
A team of experts from the Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy, along with scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), worked together to excavate the bones beginning in mid-December 1997.
Construction on NIF carefully continued in the background so the milestones
and schedules could be maintained while the archeologists worked on the mammoth. A 150-foot crane was used to lift the giant bones, which were moved to the University of California at Berkeley where scientists conducted research and formally cataloged the find.
Local school children nick-named the mammoth Niffy, which was determined through Carbon 14 dating processes to be approximately 16,000 years old.
Niffy became a part of the permanent collection at the UC Museum of Paleontology. The bones were on display at NIF during Family Open House in October 2000 and for "Cal Day" at the UC Berkeley campus in 2001. A life-size replica of Niffy has been displayed at subsequent annual LLNL Family Days as well as at special events at NIF.
