2008 EVENTS

The 

   Human

      Journey

          Begins...

The Wilson Museum is pleased to announce the reopening of the permanent exhibition of Old Stone Age artifacts from well-known French and Swiss archaeological sites.  Exciting and significant Paleolithic tools acquired in the early twentieth century have been part of the Museum's collections since the Museum opened in 1921.  Now, in light of nearly 90 years of research and discoveries, these artifacts have been reorganized and reinterpreted using more detailed context and contemporary nomenclature.  The exhibition selects from the Museum's outstanding collection of artifacts in flint, bone, antler, and ivory from such sites as Abri Blanchard and Abri Labatut in the Dordogne; Schweizersbild rock shelter in Schaffhausen, Switzerland; and the many ancient Acheulean sites of the Somme Valley in northern France.

The exhibits show the evolution of tool-making from 450,000 to 10,000 years ago, as well as representative selections of fine tools from the Lower, Middle, and all stages of the Upper Paleolithic.  Featured are some of the earliest European human body ornaments - tiny beads in bone, ivory and shell from 35,000 years ago.  Also displayed are Solutrean points and blades of exquisite workmanship in an array of subtly colored flints (circa 22,000 to 17,000 years ago) and fine Homo erectus biface hand axes (circa 350,000 years ago).  One special exhibit shows all the stages of making small sewing needles from a piece of Alpine hare bone.

The display of artifacts is enhanced by photos and letters showing how Dr. J. Howard Wilson, geologist and founder of the Museum, acquired these collections.  Visitors may even see the actual hat he wore while digging and collecting in France in 1903.  As many European Paleolithic artifacts and documents were destroyed during the World Wars, this is a unique opportunity, not only to view a world-class collection, but to get a glimpse of the people and places which made a collection such as this possible.  We are delighted to present these treasures of human history and collecting to public view.