Events Museum exhibits • Tours • Festivals • Meetings • Education • Conferences
v NEW EXHIBITS Canadian Museum of Civilization
Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y. John Bigelow Taylor
Gatineau, Quebec, Canada—The ancient Maya civilization rose to incredible heights over 1,500 years ago, then mysteriously faded away, leaving behind its jungle cities, grand pyramids, and wondrous artifacts. Who were these people and what became of them? The landmark exhibit “Maya - Secrets of Their Ancient World” explores this mystery, examining the sacred roles of divine Maya rulers, their elaborate writing and counting systems, the cycles of life and death, and the 2012 endof-days legend. Featuring nearly 250 outstanding artifacts drawn from museums in the Americas and the United Kingdom, the exhibit includes some of the most recent and significant archaeological discoveries linked to the Maya Classic Period, when the civilization was at its peak. Some of the artifacts are on public display for the first time ever. The exhibition was co-produced with the Royal Ontario Museum in collaboration with Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History. (800) 555-5621, www.civilization.ca/maya (Through October 28)
john weinstein / THe Field Museum
Fenimore Art Museum
Cooperstown, N.Y.—Revealing the extraordinary range of art produced by Native American cultures, the stunning exhibit “To Great Acclaim: Homecoming of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art” surveys the extraordinary achievements of North America’s first artists in more than 100 objects of transcendent beauty, including ritual objects, ceremonial clothing, pottery, and basketry. In 1995, the museum added their American Indian Wing designed to house the extraordinary gift from Eugene and Clare Thaw of their collection of American Indian Art. The collection has continued to grow and today numbers almost 850 objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures including the Northwest Coast, Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Arctic, California, and the Great Basin regions. (607) 5471400, www.fenimoreartmuseum.org (Through December 31st, 2012)
Arizona State Museum
University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.—View a sampling of the world’s largest collection of American Indian basketry and other woven wonders in the new exhibit “Basketry Treasured.” The exhibition of 500 pieces represents the depth and breadth of the museum’s collection of some 25,000 woven items. Examples of 2,000-year-old sandals, a rare coiled bifurcated burden basket, an ancestral Puebloan twilled basket mirroring today’s Hopi ring baskets, and other examples of early basketry and cordage products demonstrate basketry’s deep roots in the American Southwest. O’odham, Apache, and Hopi voices enrich the exhibit’s discussions of materials, technologies, traditions, and the many functions basketry has served and continues to serve in native communities. (520) 621-6302, www.statemuseum.arizona.edu/ exhibits (Through June 1, 2013)
american archaeology
Field Museum of Natural History
Chicago, Ill.—The museum’s groundbreaking exhibition ‘The Ancient Americas” takes you on a journey through 13,000 years of human ingenuity and achievement in the Western Hemisphere, where hundreds of diverse societies thrived long before the arrival of Europeans. Discover how and why certain cultures changed over time, developing farming, creating new forms of artistic expression, and forging mighty empires. Step into the windswept world of Ice Age mammoth hunters, walk through a replica of an 800-year-old pueblo dwelling, explore the Aztec empire and its island capital Tenochtitlan, and see more than 2,200 artifacts, fantastic ice-age reconstructions, and dozens of videos and interactive displays that depict the amazing ingenuity with which ancient peoples met the challenges of their times and places. (312) 922-9410, www.fieldmuseum.org (Long-term exhibit)
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