UA Museum Event Features Fossil Fun

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The community is invited to get a glimpse of the past during National Fossil Day at the Alabama Museum of Natural History at Smith Hall on The University of Alabama’s campus.

The free event will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15, in the grand gallery of Smith Hall, and it will feature demonstration tables, hands-on activities for children in the museum’s Discovery Lab and a wide variety of fossils on display.

“If anyone is interested in fossils, this is a great place and event for them to meet people who share the same interests, as well as experts and professionals,” said Allie Sorlie, museum education outreach coordinator.

Dr. Dana Ehret, the museum’s director of paleontology, will present “New Fossil Finds for 2014,” which features some ice age mammal fossils recovered during one of Ehret’s collection trips and some fossil footprints from the coal age that were donated to the museum. Printers from the UA 3D Printing Lab, located in the College of Engineering, will also be available to demonstrate how to scan and print fossils.

A new addition to the event includes fossil identification. People can bring in their fossils, rocks or other collections and have experts identify the pieces.

“Fossils are our picture of the past,” Sorlie said. “Fossils tell us about ancient life that lived long before we were here. These fossil records tell us what life and our planet looked like in the past. These are very exciting times in our history.”

UA’s Alabama Museum of Natural History is in Smith Hall near the Quad at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Capstone Drive on The University of Alabama campus.