The CU Museum of Natural History invites the public to view rare Ice Age-era tools and take part in interactive demonstrations during Family Day on Oct. 10, 2015 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. The event includes the museum’s new “Unearthed: Ancient Life in the Boulder Valley” exhibit.
The event will showcase a set of more than 80 stone implements, all roughly 13,000 years old, which were discovered within Boulder city limits in 2008. The artifacts are on display to the public for the very first time.
Family Day will offer visitors of all ages the chance to use their own hands to turn natural objects into functional tools that were crucial to human survival at the end of the last ice age. Activities will include atlatl (spear) throwing, flintknapping demonstrations and replica stone tool casting using natural fibers as cordage.
Some activities will be held inside the museum while others will take place outdoors. The event will be held rain or shine.
Family Day is free and open to the public, but timed entry to the Unearthed exhibit may be required depending on attendance volume.
The 13,000 year old Clovis-era stone tools, known as the Mahaffy Cache, are thought to have been crafted by nomadic hunter-gatherers wandering through what today is the city of Boulder—perhaps amidst saber-tooth cats, camels, giant bears and other long-gone creatures.
Key details:
• What: “Unearthed: Ancient Life in the Boulder Valley” exhibition, featuring over 80 ancient stone tools; interactive demonstrations of flintknapping, spear throwing and more.
• Where: CU Museum of Natural History, 15th Street and Broadway
• When: Oct. 10, 2015 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine
• Admission: Free and open to the public, but timed entry to the Unearthed exhibit may be required depending on attendance volume
• Parking: Visitor parking is located in the Euclid AutoPark between Broadway and 18th Street. A map and directions are available at https://cumuseum.colorado.edu/visit/directions. Visitors are encouraged to use alternative modes of transportation where possible due to limited parking on campus.
• Photos: Photos of the Mahaffy Cache stone tools are available at http://photography.colorado.edu/res/sites/news/ by typing “Mahaffy” into the search bar.
• More info: https://cumuseum.colorado.edu
Editor’s note: A media preview event will be held at the CU Museum of Natural History on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 11 a.m. CU-Boulder anthropology professor Doug Bamforth will be available to speak about the significance of these rare stone tools. Media planning to attend should contact Trent Knoss at 303-735-0528 or trent.knoss@colorado.edu