The Nampa Figurine - A 2 Million Year Old Doll in Idaho?

2 Sept

In 1889, a group of men set out to create a well near the town of Nampa in the south west of Idaho, USA. They found a good spot and began to drill down deep into the earth. Their drill reached a depth of about 300 feet when the steam powered pump began to spit out lumps of clay. Amongst these lumps the men found a strange little doll about the size of a dime. For a doll to be found at this depth it must have been crafted nearly 2 million years ago. How is this possible?

The Nampa Figurine

The Nampa Doll compared to a dime. Image: Canyon County Historical Society/Facebook

The tiny little doll the men found was described as being a little figurine of a human made from clay and baked. It is about an inch and a half or 37mm long. The surface of the Nampa doll had patches of iron oxide attached to it as did other clay balls that were found at the same depth. Some American archaeologists at the time of the discovery believed that were similarities between this figurine others found in Europe that were believed to be from the Upper Paleolithic period, about 50,000 years ago.

Why does the location Where the Nampa Figurine was Found matter?

Because the doll was found at such an extreme depth in the earth it means that it was left there a very long time ago. It would take several hundred thousand years for earth to build up on top of the Nampa doll for it to have got to that depth in the ground.

The area where the figurine was found is a geological stratum known as the Glenns Ferry Formation. The clay at that depth is thought to have been deposited there about 2 million years ago. The area is filled with different fossils that are easily preserved in this type of soil. In 1975 the area became a National Landmark called the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument in order to try and protect such valuable archeological records. The area is thought to be the world’s richest collection of fossils from just before the Ice Age.

The Debate About the Authenticity of the Nampa Figurine

Much of the initial analysis of the figurine was done by a geologist from the Boston Society of Natural History named George Frederick Wright. He believed that there was no question that the Nampa Figurine was plucked from a great depth which made it of great significance. If the doll was really over 2 million years old it brings our understanding the timeline of human occupation of America into doubt.

J.W. Powell with a Native American man-. The Nampa. Figurine — J.W.Powell (right)

Well respected geologist and explorer J.W. Powell saw the Nampa Figurine while visiting Idaho on his travels. He told Popular Science Monthly that the figurine was far to fragile to have survived being brought up through a pump and he assumed that the whole thing was a hoax.

He wrote:

“Hold the figurine at the height of your eye and let it fall on the hearth at your feet, and it would be shivered into fragments.”

He also claimed to have seen Native American children in the area playing with similar figurines and assumed that one of these dolls had somehow ended up getting mixed in with the debris from the drill and pump.

An early 20th Century Native American Clay Doll said to be similar to the Nampa Figurine

Others have speculated that the doll may have been more a more recent creation, from at least within the last few thousand years, and made its way down to a great depths through natural means. Some have suggested a worm or some other burrowing creature could be responsible for digging underneath it and causing it to fall. Perhaps a nature fissure opened up due to shifting in the ground and allowed the doll to fall.

Most experts believe it is unlikely that the doll is from over 2 million years ago simply because no other artifacts from that time period have been found that could be connected to humans. Still we would say stranger things have happened!

If you enjoyed this article you may also enjoy learning about a mysterious staircase that shouldn’t be able to exist in Santa Fe or the mystery of the Mary Celeste Ship.