Events

Museum exhibits • Tours • Festivals

Meetings • Education • Conferences

Events

■ NEW EXHIBITS National Museum of the American Indian Smithsonian Institution, National Mall, Washington, D.C.—The much anticipated grand opening of the new museum includes opening ceremonies, the Native Nations procession, a sixday festival, exhibitions, and other events. With its Native-designed architecture, exhibitions, and landscaping, the 250,000-square-foot museum is a one-of-a-kind cultural institution dedicated to the cultures, histories, languages, and artifacts of American Indians. Showcasing objects that represent a 10,000-year time span, the opening exhibitions capture the vast diversity of the Indians of the Americas told from their own perspective. The spectacular First Americans Festival will feature more than 300 of the most talented Native performers representing more than 50 tribes and Native communities. (202) 357-3164, www.AmericanIndian.si.edu (Opening September 21)

University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History Eugene, Ore.—Celebrate the museum’s grand re-opening when the entire exhibition hall will be transformed into a new exhibit, “Oregon–Where Past is Present.” Based on the latest archaeological research, this new exhibit uses thousands of artifacts dating as far back as 15,000 years ago, as well as reconstructions and interactive displays to tell the story of Oregon’s cultural, natural, and geological history. (541) 346-3024, http://natural-history.uoregon.edu (Opening October 8)

Pier 21 Museum Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada—The new traveling exhibition “France/New France: From Acadia to Louisiana” marks the 400th anniversary of French settlement in North America, beginning with the first 16th-century settlements. The exhibit examines the role of the First Nations and the motives of French monarchs for colonizing and claiming lands in the New World and those of the French colonists who left their homeland to emigrate to a colony with an uncertain future. (902) 425-7770, www.pier21.ca (Through January 2, 2005)

Art Institute of Chicago Chicago, Ill.—The major new exhibition “Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South” explores the art, ritual, ceremonial places, and settlements of the ancient peoples who lived in the central part of the U.S. between 5000 B.C. and A.D. 1600. The exhibit includes some 300 masterworks of stone, ceramic, wood, shell, and copper. (312) 443-3600, www.artic.edu (November 20 through January 30, 2005)

Institute of Texan Cultures

University of Texas, San Antonio, Tex.—“Sacred Smoke: Tobacco Pipes and the Indians of the Americas,” featuring American Indian pipes from the Red McCombs Collection, offers an anthropological perspective on the use of pipes in American Indian rituals. All tribes used tobacco in many religious rituals involving prayer, healing, and sealing of contracts and treaties. Because tobacco has played such an important role in American Indian beliefs, the pipe is considered a powerful ritual object. Pipes were often carved in the image of animals to assist in spiritual vision quests. (210) 458-2330, www.texancultures.utsa.edu (New permanent exhibit)

Ocmulgee Indian Celebration

September 18–19, Ocmulgee National Monument, Macon, Ga. Named one of the top 20 events in the Southeast, this year’s celebration features traditional arts, crafts, technology demonstrations, Native storytelling, dance, and music. (478) 752-8257, www.nps.gov/ocmu

Events

Kanab, Utah—New intriguing exhibits explore the science of archaeology through life-size replicas of excavations, artifacts recovered from the monument, and “Ask the Experts” audio-visual programs. The progression of the area’s material culture is revealed through a timeline illustration from Paleo-Indian and Archaic through Fremont, Anasazi, Paiute, and modern times. (435) 644-4300, www.ut.blm.gov/monument (New long-term exhibits)

Moundville Native American Festival

October 6–9, University of Alabama’s Moundville Archaeological Park, Tuscaloosa, Ala. Native American performers and artists will entertain and educate visitors about the rich cultural heritage of the Southeast. Described as the “Big Apple” of the 14th century and a National Historic Landmark, the 320acre Moundville Park contains more than 20 preserved prehistoric mounds, a nature trail, and a museum with some of North America’s finest Mississipian-era artifacts. (205) 371-2234, www.moundville.ua.edu ■ CONFERENCES, LECTURES & FESTIVALS Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site Indian Pow Wow September 10–12, Collinsville, Ill. Native Americans from across the country will participate in competitive and social dancing at the site’s Dance Circle. Crafts demonstrations will be held at the Interpretive Center. (618) 3465160, www.cahokiamounds.com

13th Mogollon Archaeology Conference September 30–October 2, Western New Mexico University, Silver City, N.M. A reception celebrating the museum’s 30th anniversary will kick off this year’s conference, followed by presentations, symposiums, and a public lecture on Mimbres archaeology. (505) 538-6386

Massachusetts Archaeology Month 2004 Throughout the month of October, nearly 100 events are scheduled in communities around the state to promote awareness of the commonwealth’s rich archaeological past. This year’s program offers lectures, tours, storytelling, exhibits, walks, and demonstrations. (617) 727-8470, www.state.ma.us/sec/mhc

3rd Annual Sun Mountain Gathering October 9–10, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe, N.M. In celebration of 12,000 years of New Mexico’s rich cultural heritage, this year’s event features ancient craft and technology demonstrations, Indian games and storytelling, the World Atlatl Association, archaeology talks and exhibits, Native music and dancing. (505) 476-1250, www.miaclab.org

Utah Rock Art Research Association 24th Annual Symposium October 9–11, Best Western Red Hills Hotel, Kanab, Utah. This year’s informal theme is about rock art ethics. Presentations and mini-workshops, new this year, will be made on Utah rock art research and related topics. Tours of local sites will be held Sunday afternoon and all day Monday. Contact Troy Scotter (801) 377-6901,troyscotter@comcast.net, www.utahrockart.org

2004 Joint Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference and the Midwestern Archaeological Conference October 21–23, St. Louis MarriottDowntown, St. Louis, Mo. This year’s conference includes a Thursday evening reception at the Missouri Historical Society in Forest Park, research, and poster presentations. tbaumann@umsl.edu, www.southeasternarchaeology.org

29th Annual Rock Art Symposium November 6, Otto Auditorium, San Diego Museum Zoo, San Diego, Calif. Sponsored by the San Diego Museum of Man, rock art scholars will present the very latest about pictographs and petroglyphs during this comprehensive symposium. (619) 239-2001, www.museumofman.org