FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 25, 2020
Contact: Marie Cheek, Community Relations Coordinator, Culture & Heritage Museums 803.909.7312 mcheek@chmuseums.org
Remote learning opportunity focuses on Ice Age Carolinas
Enrollment open for Museum of York County’s digital webinar – “Carolina Piedmont Seminar Series: Exploring Our Pleistocene Past”
ROCK HILL, S.C. – A virtual seminar is offered this fall with the Museum of York County’s Curator of Natural History, Steve Fields, Ph.D. “Carolina Piedmont Seminar Series: Exploring Our Pleistocene Past” are three instructional Zoom Webinars that explore the early, middle and late Ice Ages in the Carolinas. Seminars are scheduled for 6 – 7:30 p.m. EST on September 10, October 8 and November 12. Each webinar will be recorded; participants can join the live webinars or watch at a later date and time of their choice. Enrollment is required. Recommended for ages 12 and older.
Enrollment details:
Culture & Heritage Museum members: $30; non-members: $40. Click here to become a member
Enrollment includes digital class notes and instruction with Dr. Steve Fields along with a hard-copy book “Ice Age Mammals of North America: A Guide to the Big, the Hairy and the Bizarre.” Enroll, purchase the seminar package and find further instructions here: https://chmuseums.myshopify.com/products/ice-age-mammals-of-north-america-a-guide-to-the-big-the-hairy-the-bizarre
Enrollment link can also be found at website: www.chmuseums.org
For questions contact: scheduler@chmuseums.org
Seminar Descriptions:
September 10 – “South Carolina’s Serengeti” The beginning of the Pleistocene Epoch finds the global climate in a state of flux. A series of “Ice Ages” is in progress, but between the long periods of icy dominance, there are episodes of warming. About 2.5 million years ago, the Carolinas resembled the plains of East Africa, and herds of “zebras” and antelope along with cheetahs and hyenas called the savannas of South Carolina home.
October 8 – “South Carolina or South America?” During the late-middle Pleistocene, about 450,000 years ago, our climate was similar to that of today, but the tropical tapirs, capybaras, and jaguars were not so familiar. One South Carolina fossil site has a remarkable story, and its name says it all.
November 12 – “Northern Exposure” The end of the Pleistocene brought another transformation to the Carolina landscape. The climate is indeed colder, and the mammoths, muskoxen, and bears have a more northern affinity. But a bigger change is on the horizon, and most of the great beasts will meet their end.
Learn more about Culture & Heritage Museums and find an array of remote learning opportunities on website: www.chmuseums.org
About the Museum of York County: Located in Rock Hill, S.C., the Museum of York County’s primary goal is to become the regional hub for nature-based learning experiences and research opportunities. The mission of the Museum of York County is to enhance understanding of our world by collecting and preserving the natural history of the Carolina Piedmont, communicating regional themes and their broader global connections.
The Museum of York County is part of Culture & Heritage Museums, which also includes Main Street Children’s Museum, the McCelvey Center in York and Historic Brattonsville in McConnells.
Culture & Heritage Museums was awarded American Alliance of Museums’ ultimate mark of distinction with reaccreditation in 2017; accreditation signifies “excellence and credibility to the entire museum community, to governments and outside agencies and to the museum-going public.”
###