goSmithsonian - February 2009 - (Page 42) In the “Ice Age Hall,” learn how scientists think our human ancestors lived 35,000 years ago. View fossilized skeletons of ancient mammals, including a saber-toothed cat, a woolly mammoth and a mastodon. Check out the nearby FossiLab, where scientists may be at work studying fossils. AFRICAN VOICES Examine an aqal, a contemporary, portable Somali house, and an early 20th-century carved door from Zanzibar. African cultures come alive in this exhibition. SECOND FLOOR JANET ANNENBERG HOOKER HALL OF GEOLOGY, GEMS AND MINERALS Formed long ago by heat and pressure deep within the earth, minerals and gemstones delight us with their distinctive shapes and brilliant colors. Check out the three gemstones in the new acquisitions case: the unusual purple 40.10-carat elbaite, a member of the tourmaline mineral family, the 15.93carat grossular garnet that displays an exceptional blue-green color, and the 161.08-carat gorgeous green hydroxyl-herderite. Choose from two approaches to view the artifacts in these galleries. Science buffs may like the slow, studied route with opportunities to see, for example, a model of the 3-D molecular structure of NaCl— sodium chloride, or ordinary table salt. The fast route takes visitors directly to our best-known artifact, the 45.52 carat deep-blue Hope Diamond, the world’s largest stone of its kind. The museum houses the world’s most extensive meteorite collection. Some 20,000 of these space travelers are here, including many that you can touch. Don’t forget to visit the “Plate Tectonics Gallery” and use the interactive seismograph to create your own earthquake! WESTERN CULTURES The “Hall of Western Cultures” features 2,500 artifacts depicting the rich traditions and multiple influences of societies that thrived around the Mediterranean Sea from 8,000 B.C. to about A.D. 500. See several 3,000-year-old Egyptian coffins and 3,500-year-old death masks. BONES AND REPTILES A group of primate skeletons greets visitors to the Bones Hall. Notice the shrew’s ribs: so tiny they look like bits of white thread. Can you spot the zebra’s broken rib? A Gila monster’s tail looks too big—it’s only slightly smaller than its body. A Komodo dragon looks like a monster from the past. (See a live Komodo dragon at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.) INSECTS In the “O. Orkin Insect Zoo,” watch as volunteers feed a tarantula. Or hold in your hand a Madagascar hissing cockroach, lubber grasshopper, tomato hornworm caterpillar and other live insects. JOHN STEINER, NMNH (2); CHIP CLARK “The Live Butterfly Pavilion” features hundreds of exotic butterflies from around the world. BUTTERFLIES Discover how butterflies evolved, adapted and diversified in the new exhibition, “Butterflies + Plants: Partners in Evolution.” In “The Live Butterfly Pavilion” (see p. 36 for admission charges) walk among hundreds of butterflies from around the world. THE KOREA GALLERY This exhibition features cultural objects and artifacts from the Smithsonian and other collections. Here, ce- 42 goSmithsonian.com http://www.goSmithsonian.com
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