Bust out your planners, calendars, and PDAs (if you are throwback like that), it’s time to mark your calendars for the HMNS events of this week!

Lecture – Shamans and the Supernatural World, Pre-Columbian Iconography of Peru by Ed Barnhart
Tuesday, March 22
6:30 p.m.
Traditional writing did not exist in ancient South America, so the messages encoded in tens of thousands of beautiful pieces of Pre-Columbian art are the vital clues to understanding the peoples and cultures. The groundbreaking work of Dr. Edwin Barnhart has unlocked the meanings and iconography of pre-Columbian Peru which have been a mystery for centuries. Revealing shamanic healing ceremonies, the calling of supernatural spirits, and how decapitation is not execution, but actually about enslaving the souls of one’s enemies, Dr. Barnhart will present a fascinating reinterpretation of ancient Peruvian art. Warfare, human sacrifice, erotic sex and a pantheon of bizarre deities, most importantly the Fanged Deity, the themes that the ancient artists intended to convey have a deeper meaning-one of the shamanic ability to contact the supernatural world.

Class – Introduction to Minerals: Origins, Classifications and Uses
Saturday, March 26
9:00 a.m.
Go behind-the-scenes in the Museum’s staff training lab where hundreds of specimens are uniquely presented in a hands-on road maps. In this introduction of mineral and rocks, learn techniques to, identify, classify and test rocks and minerals. You will learn where and how rocks and minerals form, as well as the composition and processes that make each unique. This workshop will deepen your appreciation of rocks, minerals and gems in your everyday life. The instructor is geologist and paleontologist James Washington, HMNS staff trainer. This workshop includes time in the Cullen Hall of Gems and Minerals and Van Pelt Gemstone Carving exhibitions. Class size is limited.

Class – Rocks and Environments: Supporting Evidence of Plate Tectonics
Saturday, March 26
1:00 p.m.
Go behind-the-scenes in the Museum’s staff training lab where hundreds of specimens are uniquely presented in a hands-on road maps.
For a century, scientists have been piecing together the clues of geology’s great unifying theory: the Theory of Plate Tectonics. First proposed in the 1960s, the concepts of Continental Drift that the theory is derived from are only a little over one hundred years old. This course investigates the evidence of plate tectonics, piece by piece, building a complete understanding of one of the most pivotal of geology’s theories. This workshop includes time in the Wiess Energy Hall, Earth Forum and Hall of African Wildlife.