Thursday, August 18, 2011

Ice Age Returns to Waverly September 6th

Robert M. Ross, Associate Director for Outreach, Paleontological Research Institution at the Museum of the Earth will present “Bones in the Backyard: Excavation of the Renowned Hyde Park Mastodon” at the Susquehanna River Archaeological Center (SRAC) at 345 Broad Street, Waverly, NY on Tuesday, September 6th from 6:30 – 7:30pm.

The Museum of the Earth will also be displaying sediments from the excavation as well as many actual life size specimens of ice age vertebrates that lived in our region 12 – 15 thousand years ago. Visitors of all ages are sure to learn new things and be amazed as they experience what life was like during the ice age in our region.

In summer 2000 one of the best preserved mastodons ever found was discovered and excavated from a suburban backyard pond, outside Poughkeepsie, NY. Staff of the Paleontological Research Institution, partnering with scientific colleagues from around the Northeast U.S., spent a decade researching the mastodon and geological history of the site. The skeleton of this mastodon is on display at PRI's Museum of the Earth (Ithaca, NY.) Ross will tell the story of the excavation and the science and outreach that has occurred since.

Robert Ross has run the outreach program at the Paleontological Research Institution at the Museum of the Earth since 1997. He received a PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University, focusing on paleontology, and held academic positions in Germany and Japan before moving to Ithaca to work at PRI. Ross participated in the Hyde Park excavation and in educational programming and citizen science associated with sediment from the site.

Download a flier to share here!

A donation of $6 for general admission and $4 for SRAC members is requested. Students are invited to attend this event for free. Free admission to the SRAC exhibit hall is included in your admission donation. For more information, call the Center at (607)565-7960 or email info@SRAcenter.org.



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