News Articles

July 29, 2016

http://www.dayofarchaeology.com/crowdsourcing-science/

July 29, 2016

Today is The Day of Archaeology, an online event where archaeologists around the world share what they do. VMNH has been participating in this event since 2011. Here is one of today's entries, this one from VMNH summer intern Jessica Clark. http://www.dayofarchaeology.com/5-organizational-steps/. Read this post and others at www.dayofarchaeology.com.

July 27, 2016

Thanks so much to WSET ABC 13 and Tola Adamson for the follow-up to their fantastic coverage of the VMNH and Lynchburg College Wyoming Dinosaur Dig!

July 27, 2016

Many thanks to Danielle Staub and WDBJ-7, the CBS affiliate out of Roanoke, for letting the region know about the phenomenal research being conducted at VMNH!

July 26, 2016

Dr. Alex Hastings will be giving a talk for Science Circle, an online international gathering of science enthusiasts. His talk for the general public will be at 1:00pm this Saturday (July 30) on "Titanoboa: the Science Behind the Discovery of the World's Largest Fossil Snake". The group meets via Second Life. Anyone interested in seeing the presentation online is encouraged to use the Second Life link below or to send questions/requests to Bill Schmachtenberg (Franklin County High School & Ferrum College), user name 'Dae Miami'. For more information check out: http://sciencecircle.org/?page_id=1374

July 25, 2016

Many thanks to Governor McAuliffe for celebrating the publication of The Geology of Virginia! If you are interested in your own copy of this amazing book, you can purchase them exclusively from the museum at http://www.vmnh.net/products/details/id/169/catid/58/the-geology-of-virginia.

July 23, 2016

VMNH is at the Danville Stadium Cinemas 12 (at 3601 Riverside Drive) for the release of the new Ice Age movie. We'll be here today and tomorrow with some great Ice Age fossils. Stop by and say hello!

July 21, 2016

Curators and research staff from the Virginia Museum of Natural History had fun yesterday helping lead programs at Camp Selah in Pittsylvania County. In these images, Dr. Beard, director of research and collections at VMNH and curator of earth sciences, helped lead another nature hike for campers! Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring also made an appearance at yesterday's camp!

July 20, 2016

Attention dinosaur enthusiasts! The museum is proud to announce that it will soon be the new home of one of the most iconic dinosaurs of the Jurassic period, Stegosaurus! Museum staff are currently in Washington, D.C. to bring the full-size, cast skeleton back to VMNH from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, where the original skeleton first debuted in 1917! The display went through an extensive restoration process in 2003, and VMNH staff will spend the coming months making further preparations before Stegosaurus makes its VMNH debut (and celebrates it's 100th anniversary on display!) during next year's Dino Day festival, July 21-22, 2017. Many more details and images to follow!

July 20, 2016

We had a wonderful visit with Governor McAuliffe in Richmond on Monday to celebrate the publishing of "The Geology of Virginia," the first comprehensive review of Virginia's geology published in over a century! Museum officials, book editors, and representatives from the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy presented the Governor with a signed copy of the book during the visit. The 538 page book describes, in depth, the geological features and history of the Commonwealth, with detailed information about all regions of Virginia. To learn more about the publication, or to purchase your own, please visit our website at http://www.vmnh.net/news/details/id/345/the-geology-of-virginia-is-now-available.

July 19, 2016

Staff and volunteers are working hard to re-organizing over 8 thousand bags of archaeological specimens from a prehistoric site in Warren County, Virginia this week in order to have them easily accessible to museum scientists and visiting researchers. The material includes bones from animals, such as elk, as well as a variety of other archaeological material, including stone tools and botanical specimens.

July 19, 2016

ENTER LIL' CLAWD'S GEOCACHE ADVENTURE CONTEST! We have a miniature model of "Clawd," the museum's giant ground sloth, and we need your help to plan the perfect trip for him! Where should he go? Lil' Clawd is equipped with a "travel bug" --a trackable tag that will allow us to track Lil' Clawd wherever he goes on Geocaching.com. Lil' Clawd and the bug will be carried from cache to cache (or person to person) in the real world and we can follow his adventures online! To register, fill-out the interactive PDF form at http://www.vmnh.net/content/uploads/lilclawdgeocachecontestf.pdf

July 18, 2016

SUMMER CAMP REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS TODAY! Space Race Ages 9-11 August 1 - 5 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Registration Deadline is July 18 $105 members, $115 non-members Time is running out and Earth's inhabitants must create a new colony in space. Campers will get the chance to create their own planet from the ground up, terraforming it for their survival. Campers will explore agriculture, government, engineering, and much more in this hands-on camp that will be out of this world!

July 16, 2016

Dr. Elizabeth Moore, VMNH Curator of Archaeology and Dr. Bernard Means, VMNH Research Associate and Director of the VCU Virtual Curation Laboratory joined archaeologists from MD, VA, and DC for an archaeology festival organized by Archaeology in the Community and held at Dumbarton House, NSCDA Museum & Headquarters. Over 200 visitors participated in activities and learned about the many ways they can learn about and participate in archaeological research. We hope to see some of the young budding archaeologists visiting us soon.

July 16, 2016

Dr. Jim Beard and Dr. Nancy Moncrief were at Camp Selah in Pittsylvania County today to help provide programming for the campers! In these pictures, Dr. Beard is providing a nature hike for the children. The museum is lucky to have its curators eager to share their expertise with young, curious minds. Can you spot any future VMNH curators in these images?

July 16, 2016

We're setting up for a fantastic archaeology festival at Dumbarton House, NSCDA Museum & Headquarters hosted by Archaeology in the Community. Come join us for a day of fun, activities, and food trucks.

July 13, 2016

Meet the paleo interns! This summer the VMNH has been joined by Courtland Lyle (U of Mary Washington), Liz Mizikar (Penn State Univ.) and Paige Dzindolet (Roanoke College). See some of what they've been up to!

July 13, 2016

Thank you to Valerie and RJ of WSET ABC 13 for coming out to the museum yesterday to report on the Governor's School students visiting VMNH!

July 12, 2016

On Tuesday, July 12, 160 students from the Lynchburg College Summer Residential Governor's School Program in Mathematics, Science, and Technology traveled to the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville for special science and natural history programming presented by museum curators and research assistants. The programs were presented by museum curators and technicians to engage students in hands-on learning regarding the significance of natural history. Programs included "Analysis of Evidence for Climate Change in Virginia" presented by Dr. Nancy Moncrief, curator of mammalogy, "Food from the Past" presented by Dr. Elizabeth Moore, curator of archaeology, "Examining the Effects of Urban Land Uses on Local ...

July 10, 2016

Made it back to Martinsville this morning, and unloaded some great new dinosaur material! #vmnhdinodig

July 8, 2016

Also stopped at Reptile Gardens in Rapid City, South Dakota. So many great animals, including an Aldabra Tortoise that is 110 years old! #VMNHDinoDig

July 8, 2016

On the way back to Virginia, stopped at the mammoth site in Hot Springs, South Dakota, amazing place! #VMNHDinoDig

July 8, 2016

The Lynchburg News & Advance highlighted the work of Lynchburg College faculty and students in Wyoming #VMNHDinoDig

July 7, 2016

A nice haul of dinosaur field jackets. Each one represents one or more bones of a sauropod (long-necked dinosaur) from our quarry. Lots more smaller bones were collected too. Tomorrow we start the long drive back to Virginia! #vmnhdinodig

July 7, 2016

This morning we wrapped up the ants & fossils project too by collecting fossil-rich material from Harvester Ant mounds. #vmnhdinodig #AntsandFossils

July 7, 2016

The site had to be re-buried until the next season, good work team! #vmnhdinodig

July 7, 2016

It's a wrap! Today we finished the excavation for the season. Dr. Brooke Haiar (Lynchburg College), Jessie Farinholt, and Caitlin King flipped one of the last jackets today. Pictures to follow! #vmnhdinodig

July 6, 2016

Some wildlife from near the dinosaur quarry, shot by Dr. Kal Ivanov (VMNH) with his macro lens. #VMNHDinoDig

July 6, 2016

Today was 'Wear your Jurassic Park shirt day' at the Dino quarry #VMNHDinoDig #JurassicPark

July 6, 2016

Flipping one of the bigger Dinosaur field jackets at the quarry today, introduced by Dr. Brooke Haiar (Lynchburg College) & flipped by Dr. Alex Hastings (VMNH) plus LC students Gage Carroll, Natalie Romine, & Savannah Foran. #VMNHdinodig

July 6, 2016

Archaeology Volunteers Wanted! Do you live in the Martinsville area? Have you always wanted to volunteer with one of the museum's science projects? The archaeology program is in the midst of organizing 8000 (!) bags of artifacts and we need some volunteer help. Potential volunteers must be adult (upper level high school students will be considered), detail-oriented, organized, and comfortable using a computer spreadsheet. This is a sorting and organizing project and attention to detail is critical. Volunteers will cut printed numbers out of paper, read information from a spreadsheet to call it out to our archaeologist, and help tape numbers on plastic bags. Work will be mostly seated at the computer station with some ...

July 6, 2016

Click on the link below to learn more about this fascinating project led by VMNH Research Associate and Roanoke College Associate Professor Dr. DB Poli.

July 5, 2016

Video taken by Dr. Kal Ivanov (Curator of Recent Invertebrate Zoology at the VMNH). Sun spiders don't live in Virginia, but are sometimes found out here in Wyoming. They are voracious predators which are seldom seen due to their nocturnal habits. The one shown here is trying to escape our curiosity by burying itself under dry cow dung. #VMNHDinoDig #AntsandFossils

July 5, 2016

VMNH paleo technician Ray Vodden talks about one of the great sauropod finds in our dinosaur quarry. #vmnhdinodig

July 5, 2016

While vacationing in Arkansas this week, Dr. Elizabeth Moore, VMNH curator of archaeology, found what she likes best - more archaeology. This time, it's in the form of an Arkansas state archaeological park. She also came across a state marker for a WWII German POW camp. The gates are all that remain standing of the camp. To learn more about the Hampson Archaeological Museum State Park, visit www.arkansasstateparks.com/hampsonmuseum/

July 4, 2016

Dr. Susan Heilman of the Museum of Science, Boston flips her first dinosaur plaster jacket with Dr. Brooke Haiar of Lynchburg College. The flip was a success, see how it's done! #vmnhdinodig

July 4, 2016

Dr. Alex Hastings talks about dinosaur tracks in northern Wyoming. #VMNHDinoDig

July 3, 2016

#vmnhdinodig

July 2, 2016

Video of Dr. Kal Ivanov explaining the foraging study of Harvester Ants in northern Wyoming. Video was taken by Susan Heilman of the Museum of Science, Boston. #VMNHDinoDig #AntsandFossils

July 2, 2016

Wyoming Update: Dr. Brooke Haiar, of Lynchburg College, connected live with Boston's Museum of Science on the museum's Current Science and Technology Stage. About 50 visitors at that museum listened to Dr. Haiar talk about the dig live from the Wyoming campsite! #vmnhdinodig

July 2, 2016

Wyoming Update: The road to the dino dig site was still rained out, but the ant site was still good. We got lots of good foraging data and had time left her to check-out Devils Kitchen and the small Greybull Museum...both great places! #vmnhdinodig

July 2, 2016

Wyoming Update: Yesterday's dig got cut a bit short due to weather. Ominous clouds like these make the terrain impassible with the mud, so sometimes the crew just has to pack up and go! We're ready for another big day at the dig site today, though! #vmnhdinodig

July 2, 2016

Wyoming Update: In this picture, 4 more sauropod jackets from the field are shown, with a glove for scale. The tibia to the left will be jacketed, too. #vmnhdinodig

July 2, 2016

Wyoming Update: Dr. Alex Hastings takes photos to produce a 3D digital model of the ant mound using a method called photogrammetry. In the other image, the dig crew flags ants foraging for their mounds, including picking up fossils. #vmnhdinodig #AntsandFossils

July 2, 2016

Wyoming Update: As part of the Ants & Fossils project, Dr. Kal Ivanov got some great photos of Harvester ants foraging. These lovely ant ladies do nearly all of the work for the colony. #VMNHDinoDig #AntsandFossils

July 1, 2016

Archeological Society of Virginia

July 1, 2016

Have family visiting this July 4th weekend? Bring them to the museum! We're open Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m., and July 4 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. We hope to see you here!

July 1, 2016

The Wyoming crew from VMNH and Lynchburg College had the opportunity to visit Lake Yellowstone recently! #vmnhdinodig

July 1, 2016

Wyoming Update: The road to the dig site was rained out yesterday morning, so the VMNH & Lynchburg College crew headed to nearby Thermopolis, Wyoming to check out the Wyoming Dinosaur Center! #vmnhdinodig