Sometimes our Curators find unexpected items in donations to the Museum Collections. What at first may look like it falls under one discipline, like Archaeology, may in fact fall under another discipline entirely! Learn about one neat example in this video with Curator of Archaeology Dave Finch.
Can you get rocket fuel from water? Join Science Communicator Rhianna in the Explore Science Zone to conduct some hydrogen electrolysis and learn about rockets!
Catch Forward to the Moon in the Planetarium this summer!
You may be familiar with large, round, vinyl records for playing music, but do you know what was used to play recorded music before that?
Join Learning Facilitator Erin in this video from outside the Ukrainian Booksellers and Publishers Ltd storefront in the Museum’s Winnipeg 1920 Cityscape to learn more.
The Criddle family made money in all sorts of different ways, from farming, to community service, to handcrafts! In this video Collections Technician of Human History, Cortney Pachet shows us some of the beautiful mother of pearl inlay work done by Evelyn and Stewart Criddle.
By David Finch, Curator of Archaeology
I lived in Yellowknife for ten years where the seasons are definitely pronounced. Downtown Yellowknife wraps around a small lake and I used to shop at stores on the other side. Shopping in winter was easier because I didn’t have to go around the lake – I could just walk across the ice. For the rest of the year, I faced a longer trek to reach my destination.
There is a concept in science called the seasonal round, which is basically how a group lives at different times of the year. Note that I did not say “in all four seasons” because that’s a Western idea of time – one traditional Cree view of the year has six seasons.
Regardless, humans and animals follow seasonal cycles that we see reflected in archaeological sites. Summer fish camps are different from fall hunting sites, and both are different from winter trapping cabins.
Image: A museum diorama of seasonal Anishnaabe campsites demonstrates the concept of a seasonal round. ©Manitoba Museum
Archaeologists also follow a seasonal round – it’s hard to dig in frozen ground or to survey when there is snow. In Manitoba, the season for fieldwork is often from May to October, with the winter months spent writing reports.
Spring break-up creates challenges for getting around, so it’s the perfect time for reports and a pot of tea. ©David Finch/Manitoba Museum
Accessing the country near Hudson’s Bay is a lot easier with snow machines. ©David Finch/Manitoba Museum
This summertime focus affects our mobility: recorded sites tend to be near highways and shorelines because most fieldwork is done during summer from trucks and boats. Ancient access was different, and winter sites might be in what we now write off as bogs.
One way around these problems is to think broadly about how, where, and when we can explore the land: oral history and traditional land use can help predict where sites may be (and where we should dig); underwater archaeology and remote sensing can reveal hidden sites; and making community connections and getting to know the land in all seasons can also point us in the right direction.
Lakes and rivers are like highways, both in ancient times and for archaeologists. ©David Finch/Manitoba Museum
Doing community-based fieldwork in Labrador (working in fall means fewer bugs. ©David Finch/Manitoba Museum
Did you know that roughly 2.5 million (86%) of the Museum’s 2.9 million artifacts are part of the Archaeology collection? Containing objects dating from the last ice age through thousands of years of Indigenous history and the arrival and settlement of Europeans in Manitoba, the collection represents over 12,000 years of Manitoba’s history. Visit today to explore the Archaeology collection and all the stories it has to tell.
Spotting a shooting star can be a pretty exciting experience. Join Planetarium Astronomer Scott Young at our Space Rocks exhibit to learn about some of the best meteor showers of the year – one of which is coming up later this month!
Visit the Science Gallery, where you can check out the oldest rock you’ll ever touch!
August brings the return of some planets to the evening sky, the most famous meteor shower of the year, and longer nights than we’ve seen for a couple of months. The Milky Way is on full display, offering an unforgettable view from a dark, moonless sky. Unfortunately all of these benefits will likely be offset by smoke in the air from forest fires across Canada, which has become a fixture of summertime observing for the last several years.
The annual Perseid meteor shower is the most famous meteor shower of the year, although it is not the best one of the year. Its occurrence in August during summer vacation likely makes it more accessible than the much better Geminids, which occur in mid-December. For a complete rundown on the Perseid meteor shower, check out this blog post.
2024 is a good year for the Perseids, since the peak time occurs with the Moon out of the sky. The thing about meteor showers is, they peak in the few hours before dawn for any given location. So to see the Perseids at their best, you want to observe from about 1:30 a.m. to dawn. There will be almost no meteors before midnight – you might see one or two, and the ones you do see will likely be bright ones, but it won’t be much of a “shower” unless you stay up all night.
To observe the Perseids, get away from city lights. Light pollution will wash out the fainter meteors, and there are a lot more faint meteors than bright ones. Bring a reclining lawn chair and blanket to ward off the early-morning chill, and set up facing the darkest part of the sky (or straight up, if you’re in a nice dark spot). Turn off your electronic devices and your car’s lights – any stray light will make it hard to see the meteors for you and anyone near you. The meteors only last a second or two, so you need to watch the sky continuously – literally, don’t blink or you’ll miss it.
You can also try and take pictures of meteors – set up your camera on a tripod and take a bunch of time exposures of the sky. If you’re lucky, a meteor will happen while you’re taking a picture.
We’d love to show your Perseid pics on Dome@Home, our online astronomy show. Send them to space@manitobamuseum.ca and then tune in to our August 28th show at 7 p.m. Central on the Museum’s Facebook and YouTube channels.
Finally, some planets are visible in the evening sky! Barely…
Mercury is still on the evening side of the sky, but in August it sets just after the Sun and so isn’t visible for Canadian viewers. Folks farther south still have have a chance to catch it early in the month, low in the west just after sunset.
Venus has appeared in the evening sky, although like Mercury it is still low in the sky; only its great brightness allows it to be spotted very low soon after sunset. The thin crescent moon is nearby on August 5th.
Mars rises about 2 a.m. local time in the northeast, inconspicuous compared to nearby Jupiter and both the Pleaides and Hyades star clusters. Mars and Jupiter pass less than half a degree apart on the morning of August 14th; see the Sky Calendar entry below for details.
Jupiter is the brightest “star” in the eastern sky after midnight, outshining all the visible stars as it cruises through the stars of Taurus. The waning crescent Moon is nearby on the morning of August 27.
Saturn rises about 11 p.m. local time early in the month, and moves into the south by dawn. The ringed planet reaches opposition on September 8, so it’s coming into its best viewing position for the year. The rings are only tilted about 4 degrees to our line of sight, making them appear very thin from our point of view. The nearly-full Moon is to Saturn’s left on the evening of the 21st.
Click on highlighted dates for a star chart showing the view!
Aug 4: New Moon
Aug 11 – Aug 12 (morning sky): Best viewing for the annual Perseids meteor shower; see featured article above. Decent rates should occur the morning before and after as well.
Aug 12 (evening sky): First Quarter Moon
Aug 14 (morning sky): Jupiter and Mars are close together in the morning sky, separated by less than the size of the Full Moon. They’re still pretty close the morning before and after this date.
Aug 19: Full Moon
Aug 20-21 (after midnight into morning sky): The waxing gibbous Moon is to the left of and slightly above Saturn. The two are only about 3 degrees (6 Full Moon diameters) apart, fitting easily into the same binocular field-of-view.
Aug 26: Last Quarter Moon
Aug 27 (morning sky): The waning crescent Moon is above Jupiter, rising together in the morning sky about 1 a.m. local time in the morning sky. Mars is below and to the left, forming a not-quite-right triangle. The red supergiant star Aldebaran is to Jupiter’s right along with the Hyades star cluster, with the Pleaides above them all. The morning rising of these star clusters remind us that winter is coming.
Aug 28 (morning sky): The Moon, Mars, and Jupiter form a very squashed triangle pointing downwards in the eastern sky before dawn.
Aug: 29 (morning sky): By this morning the Moon has moved farther on, still forming a rough line with Mars and Jupiter in the early morning sky.
