Beyond Bones

This star map shows the Houston sky at 9 pm CST on January 1, 8 pm CST on January 15, and dusk on January 31. To use the map, put the direction you are facing at the bottom.     The Sky This Month The Great Square of Pegasus sets in the western sky. Taurus, […]

    One of the most common questions we’ve received here at HMNS is how we know how old our artifacts and fossils are. There are a number of different ways to go about aging an object. Relative dating techniques can provide a general age range, which can be to within decades or sometimes within […]

  Everyone knows about the bow and arrow, the sling shot, and the spear, but most people have never heard of an atl atl. For thousands of years, going all the way back to the Pleistocene, this was our ancestors’ weapon of choice when hunting large game. So let’s see how easy these things are […]

Photo courtesy of wikipedea   When you think of a camel, you probably imagine it standing in the middle of a North African or Asian desert. Nowadays camels live in the arid climates of the Middle East and Central Asia, but that wasn’t always the case. Let’s not forget that the closest relatives of Old […]

  Archaeologists study past human behavior. We do so using material evidence left behind that tells us of that behavior. Artifacts and architecture retrieved from the past may be esthetically pleasing, but ultimately archaeologists are most interested in the people who made or built these things to answer questions such as who, what, when, where, and […]

  In celebration of the official start of winter today, we proudly present our humble thoughts on the importance of the Sun’s path through the sky as perceived by different cultures around the world. Although it barely seems worth mentioning today, in the past, solar events like the winter solstice were cause for great celebration, […]

 Photo courtesy of wikipedia  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eurypterus_Paleoart.jpg   Eurypterids: you may never have heard of them, but you will come to fear them. They appear in the fossil record during the Ordivician Period, over 400 million years ago, and finally went extinct about 250 million years ago during the Great Permian Extinction. Because of their appearance, Eurypterids […]

  Materials: String Material – 2’’ x 8’’ per student Scissors Hole-punches Something safe to throw – small hacky sack-type balls Prep-work: Familiarize yourself with the sling in Medieval warfare by reading background information Make an example if you don’t already have one Practice using the sling Cut a 2’’ x 8’’ piece of fabric for […]

By Corey Green, HMNS Discovery Guide   In Ancient Egypt, jewelry pieces had meaning beyond the vanity of beautification. Jewelry patterns, materials, and all the way down to the very colors carried their own connotations of meaning and symbolism to the people who wore it. Most designs used beads or colored minerals inlaid in various […]

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The streets are aglow with beautiful lights, and everyone seems to be just a little bit more jolly! It can also be a stressful time. The kids have only been on break for two hours and they are already bored, there is wrapping that needs to be […]