Lecture: Museum Paleontology Collection - MS's Ice Age Megafauna

LECTURE: “The Paleontology Collection at the Museum of Natural Science, Featuring Selections from Mississippi’s Ice Age Megafauna”

Join Paleontologist George Phillips in the Museum's Rotwein Theater for this featured lecture during the MS Archaeology Association's Expo to learn more about Ice Age megafauna and how they contribute to our understanding of ancient Mississippi.

PHOTO INFORMATION:

9-year-old Sarah Thomas of Amory, MS after finding an impressively large Ice Age bone on the Mississippi River in August 2004. The bone turned out to be the femur of the large Ice Age carnivore Arctodus simus, or great short-faced bear. As a full-grown adult, this extinct bear species, a relative of the existing Andean bear in South America, stood in excess of 10 ft on its hind legs, over five feet tall at the shoulders on all fours, and weighed over a half ton. Originally thought to be a predator, most scientists today interpret this imposing beast as an omnivore, as opposed to an active predator.