CALIFORNIA

Society for California Archaeology has family basket weaving classes on November 19 and is fun for all ages.

Heritage Education Programs
The Heritage Education Programs runs field trips and classroom programs for grades four and up. At the Archaeology Adventure field trip program, students excavate in simulated archaeological sites at Apple Valley, Redlands, and Yucaipa. Visit the programs' Web site at: www.HeritageEdu.com or call (866) 277-8340. (This program is featured in dig's November 2003 issue.)

Albinger Museum
The Albinger Museum in Ventura has artifacts that have been found on the site of this archaeological museum. They reveal 3,500 years and five different cultures. The museum is open daily. For more information call: 805-648-5823, or visit: www.ventura.com/points_of_interest/archeosite/.

Archaeology Month is in May and events take place throughout the state. For details, check the Society for California Archaeology Web site, www.scahome.org.

The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art
The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana hosts a number of archaeological programs for children grades 3-6. For more information call: 714-480-1522, or visit its Web site at: http://www.bowers.org/.

The Lawrence Hall of Science
Lawrence Hall of Science includes a dinosaur exhibit from May 28, 2011- Jan 1, 2012 and is great for children ages 2-7. Scientists and Engineers have also designed life-like versions of dinosaurs that children can interact with. Within the exhibit there is also a hand-on dig site for kids with hidden fossils, and a dinosaur nest. http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/visit/exhibits/dinosaurs

The Skirball Cultural Center
The Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles offers an Archaeology Program called Dig It! Archaeology Adventures on Sundays from 1:30-3:00 p.m., which is free with museum admission. The center also offers an archaeology summer camp for ages 6-12. Call: 310-440-4500, or visit its Web site at: www.skirball.org.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles has a dinosaur hall, that has one of the largest collections of dinosaur fossils. The museum also has the Dinosaur Encounters puppet show which features life-sized dinosaurs that teach children about how they lived.

The San Diego Museum of Man has a Mummy Exhibition going on until March 4, 2012. This is an exhibit that explores the science of mummification. Within the exhibit is a modern day mummy created from the body of an American man who donated his body to science in the mid 1990s. More Information at: http://www.museumofman.org/exhibit/modern-day-mummy-art-science-mummification. The museum offers a unique journey through time and place. The Education Department offers year-round school tours and classes on topics related to archaeology, Egyptology, and physical and cultural anthropology. Exciting summer school classes, scout programs, and family days are offered. The Children's Discovery Center offers a fun way to learn about life and death in ancient Egypt through interactive displays and a mock archaeological field camp.

There is also a Strange Bones Exhibition until January 12, 2012. This exhibit focuses on how the human skeleton changes throughout a person's life as well as abnormalities and body modifications such as foot binding and neck rings. http://www.museumofman.org/exhibit/strange-bones-curiosities-human-skeleton

For more information, contact the museum's Education Department at: 619-239-2001, or visit its Web site at:www.museumofman.org.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County has opened a dinosaur hall! This museum has one of the largest collections of dinosaur fossils. The museum also has the Dinosaur Encounters puppet show which features life-sized dinosaurs that teach children about how they lived.

The museum is open seven days a week. Admission is $2 for children 5 to 12, $6.50 for children 13 to 17, and free for children five and under. Adult admission is $9. Call: 213-763-DINO, or visit its Web site at: www.nhm.org.

Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits
The Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits opened its famous "Pit 91", where the annual excavation of Ice Age fossils takes place. Visitors can watch from a special observation area as paleontologists and volunteers recover bones from beasts, such as saber-toothed cats and dire wolves, that died in the sticky asphalt deposits 28,000 years ago.

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