Homepage ... 2000-2005 Column Index ... 1995-1999 Column Index

Article for: The Davis Enterprise
Date: March 7, 2003
Author: Tom Wickersham
Contact: Tom Wickersham

************************************************************

MOCK EXCAVATIONS AT EXPLORIT TOMORROW

Even done some digging in your backyard and discover pottery shards or even arrowheads? If so, you've just made contact with a culture from the past.

Currently, visitors to Explorit Science Center can become geologists in the exhibition "Written in Stone: The Story of Sand, Soil and Rocks." Tomorrow, visitors will be able to become anthropologists and archeologists, too. All will learn more about past cultures and how scientists handle discoveries.

From 1-3 p.m. Explorit will become the site of an interactive program, "Digging Up Treasures." Kelly McGuire from Far Western Anthropological Research Group will be on hand to lead kids and adults in excavations and demonstrations.

If you'd like to see how cultures of yore created obsidian arrowheads, McGuire says that Saturday's activities will also include a flint-knapping demonstration.

The program, which is free with paid admission to the exhibition, will include a mini-lecture on California's prehistory. A vast amount of information about past cultures that have lived here lies just beneath our feet.

Services that organizations like Far Western offer are critical to everything from conducting soil studies to laying new pipelines. Far Western, headquartered in Davis, has been offering site survey and other services since 1979.

McGuire says that visitors will also be able to see a recently created video entitled "The Obsidian Trail." Obsidian is a volcanic glass formed when lava cooled quickly. Obsidian is usually black, but can sometimes be red or brownish.

Native Americans and other cultures have used obsidian to create tools, knives, arrowheads and other weapons by a process known as flint-knapping. Saturday's program will include a couple of such demonstrations.

While the exhibition offers explorations in discovering minerals, rocks, and landforms, the "Digging Up Treasures" program will investigate some of the clues of ancient cultures often found buried underground.a

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Explorit wishes to recognize and thank the newest members of its Benefactor Society for their support and commitment to science education: Shirley Chiang & William Graves, Betsy Elzufon, Bill & Nori Reinert, and Carolyn & Leon Ullensvang. 

Also recognized are Explorit's newest Business Alliance for Science partners for 2003: AgraQuest, Inc.; Stephen C. Bick, CPA/CFP; Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc.; General Atomics; Jill Slater, Ph.D.; Tandem Properties; UCD, Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences; and Yolo Federal Credit Union.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Explorit Science Center is at 3141 5th Street in East Davis. The current exhibition is "Written in Stone: The Story of Sand, Soil and Rocks," which continues through Apr. 5. Public hours are Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sunday from 1 to 4:30 p.m., and Tuesday through Friday from 2 to 4:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.explorit.org or call Explorit at (530) 756-0191.