EUGENE–Maybe you spied an unusual rock and wonder whether it was shaped by water or by human hands? Or you found a remarkable fossil–were there dinosaurs in Oregon? Or you may be curious about the books, clothes and tools your Oregon Trail great-grandmother tucked in the attic.

Bring them all to the 10th annual Identification Day at the University of Oregon Museum of Natural History, 1680 E. 15th Ave., held from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 20. Cost is $2 per person or $5 per family. UO students and museum members are admitted free.

Ten UO and community experts in natural and cultural history will help you identify your rocks, bones, fossils, plants, textiles, tools and other artifacts, specimens or historical items. This year’s group of experts includes leaders of the archaeological team that found North America’s oldest house, a bone expert whose forensic work won the 1998 Lane County Sheriff’s award, and Eugene’s "fossil man," who persuades celebrities to pose with his 30-pound dinosaur bone.

Museum research director Tom Connolly, museum archaeologist Dennis Jenkins and their field crew excavated the site of a 9,500-year-old house near Newberry Crater in Central Oregon and announced it to the world last October. Their work on the long history of human occupation in Oregon has been covered by newspapers, magazines and broadcast media all over the United States.

Both researchers will help visitors differentiate genuine archaeological artifacts such as stone tools and carvings from natural specimens.

Connolly, who has participated in the event since 1988, says people are often disappointed to find their water-shaped rocks were not actually carved by ancient people. However, he still remembers "some sculpted pieces from western Oregon in the Columbia River area that were impressive and memorable."

Guy Tasa, museum archaeologist and osteologist, is a bone expert who also does archaeological and forensic work for federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

He will help visitors identify the species of their bone samples and provide other facts about the animal’s life and fate.

"Fossil Man" Chris Evans, a teacher at Eugene’s Howard Elementary School, will identify fossils. He has convinced many celebrities, among them First Lady Hillary Clinton, NBA star Karl Malone and talk show host Jay Leno, to pose for photos with his Jurassic-era apatosaurus fossil.

Mary Beth Baxter, UO graduate student in geology, also will examine fossils with the expertise of someone who has studied the Smithsonian and European collections on invertebrate paleontology.

Jim Nelson, long-time owner of Eugene’s "Nelson the Rocky Feller" shop, will identify rocks and minerals.

Historic objects, and objects from different contemporary cultures, will be examined by several local experts.

Theodore Stern, UO professor emeritus of anthropology, is an internationally recognized expert on objects made by people of Southeast Asia, the South Pacific and western North America. During one identification day several years ago, Stern identified an impressive argillite sculpture as a Haida art work that told the story of a princess kidnapped by spirit bears. Later, the visitor who owned the sculpture gave her statue to Stern as a gift to the museum.

Hattie Mae Nixon, a well-known Eugene arts expert and volunteer, is a specialist in textiles from around the world, from the garments of the old Chinese palace aristocracy to molas made by native peoples of Central America.

Quintin Barton, historian and volunteer at the Lane County Museum, will identify historical objects. "I have identified anything from tin cans to fish spears," he said.

He recalled a woman who found some old tools while working in her yard. "She thought she had hit the jack pot, but it was nothing," he said. "The objects were automobile parts, tire chains and engine valves."

Visitors may also bring plants for identification outside in the museum courtyard. Pam Mayes, UO graduate student in landscape architecture and museum courtyard coordinator, has studied native plants in cultivation and in their native habitats in all major areas of the United States.

Children who attend may play with the museum’s discovery boxes full of rocks, plant fossils, teeth and lion bones. They also may play "Whose Backpack Is That?"–a participatory exercise in classification and identification that uses objects made by the children themselves as study material.

"Identification Day is an educational event, and we want to teach children the reason and the importance of collections and research," says Patricia Krier, museum program director. Visitors to identification day should not bring live animals, nor any item for sale, barter or value appraisal.

"We do this in the spirit of scientific inquiry–we don’t give dollar values on items," says event organizer and museum intern Erica Pereira." We try to teach visitors their history and how to see the big picture by putting together the pieces, like a jigsaw puzzle. This is the community’s chance to stump the experts!"

For information, visit the museum’s web site at http://oregon.uoregon.edu/~mnh or call (541) 346-3024.

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