Event to feature fossils, rocks and meteorites

The KU Natural History Museum is calling all amateur rock hounds, fossil hunters and meteorite enthusiasts for an identification event from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23.

“What on Earth? Rocks, Fossils and Meteorites” will give visitors the opportunity to bring items from their home collections to KU experts for identification. The event will include the opportunity to visit the museum’s new exhibit on trilobites.

The event is timely for at least one group of researchers.

“Many of the fossils people bring us to be identified are the bones from the neighbor’s cow or horse, or even rocks,” said Larry Martin, curator of vertebrate paleontology. “But every once in a while, someone brings in a special find that we are very excited to see.”

One such special find is the skull of an Ankylosaur that fossil hunter Bob Detrich found in Montana. Martin, who will be looking at the fossil in a museum laboratory this week, hopes to be able to display it during the event.

The museum will also have on display dozens of invertebrate fossils such as ammonites, oysters, clams, crinoids and sponges, plus fossil plants, fossil animals, Kansas rocks and meteorites.

Admission for the event is free, but contributions for the museum are welcomed. The museum is located at 1345 Jayhawk Blvd. Please call (785) 864-4450 for more information.