UI Pentacrest Museums and partners plan four days of activities
Friday, October 5, 2012
Written by: Rebecca Pope

University of Iowa Pentacrest Museums and partners are celebrating National Archaeology Day with four days of lectures, activities, tours, and more Thursday through Sunday, Oct. 11-14. The national event is sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America, including the Iowa Chapter.

Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 13 and 14 will feature many family-friendly events in and around Macbride Hall and the UI Museum of Natural History. Events will include demonstrations of prehistoric technology, opportunities to view ceramics, and to bring artifacts for identification (although no appraisals will be provided)/ Tours will also be given of the UI Department of Anthropology laboratories and archaeology museum exhibits, and there will be interactive Native American children’s games.

Likewise, the Johnson County Historical Society will sponsor tours of Plum Grove, the Iowa City residence of Robert Lucas, Iowa’s first governor. Plum Grove is located at 1030 Carroll St. just off Kirkwood Avenue between Dodge and Keokuk streets.

Partners with UI Pentacrest Museums for these local events are the UI Office of the State Archaeologist, UI Libraries and Special Collections, the UI Departments of Religious Studies, Classics, and Anthropology, the UI Museum of Art, and the Johnson County Historical Society.

The following schedule promises to be full of activity for both academics and local families.

Thursday, Oct. 11

  • 5-7:30 p.m. – Conflict on the Iowa Frontier: Perspectives on the War of 1812 exhibit opening and reception at the Old Capitol Museum
  • 6-6:45 p.m. – Eugene Watkins will talk about Old Fort Madison in the Senate Chamber of the Old Capitol Museum
  • 7:30 p.m. – Jodi Magness will lecture on “The Ancient Village and Synagogue at Huqoq in Galilee” in the Senate Chamber at the Old Capitol Museum

Friday, Oct. 12

  • 4 p.m. – Anna Roosevelt will present an academic seminar, “Amazonia: A dynamic human habitat, past, present, and future,” in Kollros Auditorium, 101 Biology Building East

Saturday, Oct. 13

  • 10 a.m. -Magness lecture: “Masada: Stronghold of the Jewish Resistance against Rome” in Macbride Auditorium
  • 1 a.m. – Roosevelt lecture: “The First Americans: From Alaska to Tierra del Fuego” in Macbride Auditorium
  • 12:30-3 p.m. – Archaeology activities, tours, and demonstrations in and around Macbride Hall and the UI Museum of Natural History.
  • 1-5 p.m. – Plum Grove will be open Saturday and Sunday for tours of the home and for viewing archaeology displays on the grounds. Visit www.johnsoncountyhistory.org/ for more information.

Sunday, Oct. 14

  • 1-5 p.m. - Plum Grove open hours
  • 6 p.m. - Johnson County Historical Society Museum activities will include an interactive tour of the Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City

For more information on Old Capitol Museum, call 319-335-0548 or visit www.uiowa.edu/oldcap. For the UI Museum of Natural History, call 319-335-0606 or visit www.uiowa.edu/mnh.

The UI Departments of Anthropology, Religious Studies, and Classics are units of the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.