1/3 U of Oregon's Museum of Natural and Cultural History

I have been incredibly bored lately, mostly because it has been too cold and rainy to go outside or do much of anything and also because I am sitting around waiting for approval to start a new medication.  The sooner I can start this new medication, the sooner I can resume my travels to warmer and dryer places!!  So, I rented a car for a week and spent a few hours one day visiting this nearby museum. (There is also a museum I might visit in Portland, but I decided it was just too damp and dreary for that long drive.)   

Anyway, this museum on campus was small and not very expensive, so I decided to give it a try.  And because classes do not start for a few days, there was also lots of street parking right in front! 

There are two halves to this museum--one focused on natural history and one on the culture of the ancient people who lived here thousands of years ago.  

The sculpture on the top of the entrance to this building is a migrating male salmon.  These fish change the shapes of their mouths and even their backs as the swim up rivers.  Once they fertilize the eggs that females lay, they die.   

This is the cultural side of the museum.  Paisley Caves is where they have found bones and artifacts of some of the oldest Americans--over 9,000 years old!  So, the focus in this museum is on these ancient peoples instead of the more modern Native Americans who lived here only hundreds of years ago.  

It is amazing that these sandals made of sagebrush bark have lasted over 9,000 years in such good condition!  And they have several pairs on display--mostly the same design but in various sizes. 

Here is an article about these sandals and where they were found.  https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/fort_rock_cave/#.XDKWH2l7mpo  

The shoes on the lower left have rabbit skin woven in to make them warmer.  Rabbit skin was cut into long strips and used to make woven blankets and coats as well as shoes.  

And a reconstruction of an early shelter.  

A fragment of an 9,600 year old basket.

This reconstructed plank home represents a later group of peoples.  Northwest peoples have long known how to split logs into rough planks to build their homes.  A fishing trap is next to the building. 

These are some of the tools and artifacts found in Oregon.  Notice that the basket on the upper right is made of strips of wood, not woven from plant fibers as most baskets are.

I thought this was an interesting map of Oregon.  Like Michigan and much of the Midwest, Washington and Oregon experienced glaciers that mostly wiped the landscape clean, so there are no dinosaurs and very early animals or plants found in these states.  However, the geology is varied because of the Cascade mountains, volcanoes, and other events that occurred both before and after the glaciers.  

As you can see, I spent most of my time on the Cultural side of this museum.  The next few photos were from the Natural History side, but I really ran out of time here.  

This is a model of a large ground sloth, one of the animals that survived the glaciers and was hunted by ancient humans.

And another interesting map showing ancient animals and where they have been found in this state.  There are a lot more models and bones of these animals at the Thomas Condon Paleontology Visitor Center in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.  It is located about 100 miles east of Bend, Oregon.  Check my posting on 10/3/2018 for photos.

I spent a couple of hours here and could have spent more time, but I wanted to run the rest of my errands and get home before dark.  Well worth the $3 entrance fee for seniors.