Sunday, March 29, 2009

Museum of Native American Artifacts



Sometimes travels to new places don’t take you very far from home. That was the case last week when I visited the Museum of Native American Artifacts in Bentonville, AR. The museum is located at 202 SW “O” Street in Bentonville and is open from 9:00 to 5:00 Monday through Saturday. Admission is free.


Bentonville shares a border with Bella Vista, AR where I live and I traveled less than 10 miles for this visit.

The museum has one of the best collections of pre-Columbian artifacts found in the United States and includes a smaller collection from more recent times. The artifacts range from the Paleo Period (12,000 years to 8000 years ago) through the Historic Period (1650 AD to 1900 AD).

The museum itself has an interesting history. The people who were here when the Europeans came to America intrigued David Bogle and he started collecting artifacts depicting their history. As his collection grew he moved it from his home to a small building and opened the collection for viewing on a limited basis. Recently he purchased a larger building and opened the Museum on a full time basis. As well as unique items from his collection there are items on loan from individuals and universities. The Museum is the only place where many artifacts from these early time periods are on display for the public.
I was very impressed with the displays and layout of the Museum. The displays are in chronological order traveling from Paleo, to Archaic, to Woodland, to Mississippian and finally to Historic. There is a free audio tour with 63 stops provided. On many of the stops there is the option of pressing # to learn more about that particular time.

If you are ever in Northwest Arkansas a stop at the Museum of Native American Artifacts is very worthwhile. For more information visit the Museum web site at http://www.museumofnativeamericanartifacts.org/index.html.

I borrowed the image at the top of the page from the Museum web site.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Capital Reef National Park

Capital Reef was my favorite National Park in Utah. I loved the number of wild flowers that were blooming in this dry climate.











Saturday, March 14, 2009

Assateague Island National Seashore



You don't have to go find the ponies. They come and visit in the campground.


Out grazing.


Scratching a itch


All alone

copyright@2009 by Jo Jones

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Backyard Birds

These are just a few of the birds that visit my backyard.


Pileated Woodpecker


Hawk


Bluebird


Goldfinch


Downey Woodpecker


Cardinal

Copyright@2009 by Jo Jones

Monday, March 9, 2009

Texas Wildflowers

There is nothing as beautiful as Texas wildflowers in the spring. If you have a chance visit in April you can see the full range of flowers. There are fields full of just bluebonnets. Other fields have a mix of bluebonnets, paintbrush, poppies, and other flowers. The road sides have been seeded with a mix of wildflowers and every trip is a feast for the eye.

The photos in the next posts were taken with the Nikon D50.



The small purple flowers are wine cups.


Bluebonnets


Wildflower Mix


Indian Paintbrush


Not sure if these are Blackeyed Susans or Swamp Sunflowers


Poppy

Photos are Copyright@2008 by Jo Jons