The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs is moving closer to being accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Business manager and Chief Operating Officer Joe Muller says the AAM will be sending a 2-member team to the site in May or June as part of the accreditation process.

It normally take 3 to 4 years for a museum to be accredited by the AAM, but Muller hopes the Mammoth Site can pull it off it 2-to-3 after starting the process last year.

The Mammoth Site has not been accredited in the past, and Muller says it isn’t having to make any significant changes to be accredited…although there have been a number of small changes made to policies, the code of ethics, and operation plans.

Muller says policies is what draws the closest scrutiny from the AAM…which wants to make sure all its members meet national standards and use the best practices in their fields.

Muller, Mammoth Site  Director/Chief Scientist Dr Larry Agenbroad and President Linda Stoll last year signed the AAM Pledge of Excellence…which Muller calls an easy and achievable step along the Mammoth Site’s path to excellence.

He sees the Pledge and accreditation as ways to show the museum’s commitment to being a good steward of the resources it holds in the public trust, which he thinks will strike a chord with potential visitors and donors…bringing the Mammoth Site more of each.

The Mammoth Site got a little boost of attention Friday with the worldwide launch of a new IMAX 3-D movie filmed in part in Hot Springs and the Southern Black Hills about 15 months ago.

Giant Screen Films says the movie… Titans of the Ice Age…”tells the story of a critical, yet oft misunderstood era during which humans walked the earth alongside iconic beasts of prehistory.”

It features state-of-the-art, high-resolution CGI recreations of ancient, extinct Ice Age mammals as well as footage shot at Yellowstone National Park, Alaska, sites in the Rocky Mountains, and elsewhere.

The film’s director and principal photograper spent several days at the Mammoth Site in November 2011.  Dr Agenbroad is featured in several shot in the bonebed, explaining how over 60 mammoths and other animals became trapped there so 26,000 years ago.

Titans of the Ice Age was shot in IMAX 3D, IMAX 2D, and Digital 3D. The Denver Museum of Science and Nature is the nearest IMAX theater to this area.