Baker’s Dozen
By Lowell & Kaye Christie, F47246
March 2006
After reading a terrific book on Nebraska paleontology recently, Kaye decided that some FMC readers must also be interested in really, really ancient North American history. So once we decided on our topic, we began to research archaeology and paleontology museums on the Internet, selecting the most intriguing ones to include in this column. These museums are scattered throughout the continent, so most likely one is located in an area in which you’ll be traveling.
1. University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln, Nebraska
This has to be a good place to visit, given the amount of digging that’s been done in all parts of the state and how many dinosaur bones ended up in this museum. Morrill Hall houses the good stuff. Most of the 1 million vertebrate fossils in the collection were uncovered in Nebraska, but some were found in New Mexico and Montana as well. For more information about the museum, visit www.museum.unl.edu.
2. Alexandria Archaeology Museum, Alexandria, Virginia
Extensive archaeological work allows you to see relics of American Indian camps as well as houses, shops, schools, mills, pottery kilns, cemeteries, and Civil War forts and batteries. The collection includes more than 2 million artifacts from more than 150 archaeological sites in the city of Alexandria. For more information, visit http://oha.ci.alexandria.va.us/archaeology.
3. Simon Fraser University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Although the museum’s emphasis is on relics from British Columbia sites, it also contains artifacts from many other parts of the world. Students enrolled in museum studies courses at the facility created some of the exhibits. While working at the museum, they learn about collection management, archaeological conservation, and Web exhibit design. Additional collections resulting from excavations and research by faculty, staff, and students are housed in the museum as well. For more information, visit www.sfu.ca/archaeology/museum.
4. Delaware Archaeology Museum, Dover, Delaware
The state of Delaware contains some of the oldest European settlements in the United States, such as the one started by the Dutch in 1631. The artifacts in this museum’s collection cover 12,000 years of history, from the last ice age to the 20th century. They include arrowheads and spear points, stone and bone tools, very early ceramics and glass, as well as personal objects used in Delaware from the 17th century to the 20th century. For more information, visit www.destatemuseums.org/information/Museums/arch/arch_museum.shtml.
5. Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Santa Fe, New Mexico
You probably know that native people were living in the Southwest centuries before the arrival of Europeans. This museum has amassed a huge collection of American Indian art and artifacts created by the Pueblo, Navajo, Apache, and other cultures living in the Southwest. It’s located in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. This is but one of four museums on Museum Hill, just three miles from downtown Santa Fe. For more information, visit www.miaclab.org.
6. Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Harrison, Nebraska
The landscape surrounding these fossil beds has been a site of dramatic change for millions of years. It’s a place where ancient people lived, raised families, and died. The record preserved in this monument not only reflects the history of change and evolution, but also the struggles of people living there. A visit allows current generations to make contact with the past by seeing how the weathering of sedimentary rock continues to expose ancient bones long hidden in the cliffs. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/agfo.
7. El Paso Museum of Archaeology, El Paso, Texas
Here you can discover the story of the first inhabitants of the El Paso area, the Southwest, and northern Mexico. Dioramas and exhibits narrate how earlier peoples lived, from the Paleo-Indian hunters of the ice age forward to modern times. The museum grounds include 15 acres of nature trails, outdoor exhibits, and a desert garden with more than 250 varieties of native plants. For more information, visit www.elpasotexas.gov/arch_museum.
8. Fundy Geological Museum, Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, Canada
Here’s another museum filled with minerals, fossils, and models that allow visitors to explore the prehistoric landscape and early inhabitants of the Bay of Fundy region. The Fossil Gallery’s exhibits of rocks, flora, and fauna allow you to travel far back in time to see the sites where many of the most significant fossils were revealed and provide a better picture of what Nova Scotia looked like hundreds of millions of years ago. For more information, visit www.museum.gov.ns.ca/fgm.
9. Under The Prairie Frontier Archaeological Museum, Elkhart, Illinois
Much history has been made in this central Illinois location. The museum is located at the base of Elkhart Hill, once a stop on the 300-year-old Overland Trail (American Indians used it before the Europeans arrived). Inside the museum’s doors you’ll view one of the largest collections of relics dating back to frontier Midwest life. Many of the pioneer artifacts date from the late 1700s to the early 1800s, including some that are directly related to Illinois native Abraham Lincoln. This visit will probably whet your appetite for a trip to the reconstructed 1830s village of New Salem, located 20 minutes away. For more information, visit www.undertheprairie.com.
10. Louden-Henritze Archaeology Museum, Trinidad, Colorado
Located within the library of Trinidad State Junior College is a museum rich in ancient fossils discovered in the area. A rare fish egg fossil; shark teeth; and a partial skeleton of a mosasaur reveal that the region was once covered by water. A replica of a tyrannosaurus footprint found in the vicinity provides clues to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Mammoth tusks of ice-age animals also are on display. All of these artifacts were revealed by excavations in the area. For more information, visit www.historictrinidad.com/museums.
11. Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, Maine
This collection of more than 50,000 objects represents 10,000 years of American Indian culture in Maine. The earliest objects are primarily stone tools, such as projectile points, knives, and axes. There are also bone objects, harpoons, fishhooks, combs, and ceramics dating back 2,000 years. The museum has two locations: the main site is in downtown Bar Harbor and the other is inside Acadia National Park. For more information, visit www.abbemuseum.org.
12. Moundville Archaeological Park, Moundville, Alabama
We tend to generalize that “real” archaeological relics must date back thousands of years. But the items preserved here go back only 800 years, to a time when Moundville was the largest city in North America. Today’s visitor can inspect artifacts dating to A.D. 1200, along with interpretive exhibits showing and explaining 60 years of archaeological excavations. In addition, a theater plays videos related to Moundville and the people who lived there. For more information, visit www.moundville.ua.edu.
13. Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Berkeley, California
This museum has long sponsored archaeological fieldwork in the Southwest, including 50 years of research in and around Chaco Canyon. The facility also contains masses of relics from around the world. It must be tough to decide which of the museum’s 3.8 million fossils and artifacts should go on display at any one time. The collections are also in continuous use by university faculty for teaching, researching, and learning. For more information, visit http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu