Museum of the North

The University of Alaska Museum of the North is an artifact-rich serving of geology, history, culture and trivia of each region of the state. In fact, that Alaska is considered by regions is one of the main take-aways from today's visit.

Outside the Museum, goats were being used to chomp down the weeds and grass  growing the in the rocks. How environmentally correct!

Inside we were greeted by an 8 ft. 9 in., 1259 lb. stuffed bear. 

We first visited the exhibits of the Southwest - the Aleutian Islands - and the Aleut and Alutiiq Native Peoples and then the...

  

Western Arctic Coast and the Inupiaq and Yupik Eskimo.

Musk Ox and wolves.

Here you are, Bill - its been a long time since we've shown carved knife handles and harpoon heads.

Ancient masks

Beautiful seal parka and...

an incredible feather parka.

One of the stars of the Museum is Blue Babe a...

 36,000-year-old Bison found preserved in the permafrost by Fairbanks-area miners

Bison in the cave paintings in Spain and France.

Blue Babe bears the marks of being killed by a lion and this chart shows the distribution of Late Pleistocene Lions.

Oh, and Bill, some points and scrapers...

from the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene and...

the Middle Holocene and the Late Holocene.

Beautiful beadwork on a Chief's Jacket and...

mittens.

Otter on the left, next a marten then a wolverine.

Clothing and beadwork from the Interior - Athabascan. The long beaded strap at the bottom is a baby band.

Masks made by a contemporary artist.

A model of a fish wheel.

See the fish in the box at the left?

Dall sheep from the Southcentral  - Eyak and Alutiiq.

Totem Pole

Here's the surprise - the Arctic Hadrosaurs, depicted being illuminated by the aurora borealis. A herd of juvenile and adult duck-billed dinosaurs roam a polar forest in northern Alaska 69 million years ago. 

Alaska was once home to duck-billed dinosaurs that lived far above the Arctic Circle. Scientists from the University of Alaska Museum of the North have excavated over 6,000 of their bones from along the Colville River. Their research reveals that these fossils represent a new species, Ugrunaakuk Kuukpikensis, found only in Alaska.