Press

The New York State Museum today announced the opening of a new long-term exhibition about the Ice Ages in New York State. The exhibition examines the landscape and animals of the Ice Ages in New York and features fossils of Ice Age mammals including mammoths, caribou, moose, and whales.

Over the last two million years, New York has experienced several Ice Ages interspersed with warm periods. Gigantic glaciers covered the state, and then retreated. Each wiped the landscape nearly clean, creating lakes, widening valleys, and rounding mountaintops. Many large Ice Age mammals—including mastodons, woolly mammoths, giant ground sloths, and musk oxen–are now extinct or gone from New York.

“The State Museum is a valuable cultural and educational resource for the public,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa. “I encourage teachers to bring students to the Ice Ages exhibition to learn about the history of New York before people were here and glaciers covered the landscape.”

“We’re proud to open the Ice Ages exhibition at the State Museum,” said State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia. “From exploring how glaciers work to learning how mastodons once inhabited New York, this exhibition is an excellent educational opportunity for both children and adults.”

“New York looked very different 13,000 years ago as the last Ice Age was ending,” said New York State Museum Director Mark Schaming. “We hope visitors leave the exhibition with a greater understanding of the arctic animals that once inhabited the state and how the Ice Ages left a lasting impact on New York’s landscape.”

Images from the exhibition are available here: http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/about/press/kits/ice-ages.

The State Museum is a program of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education. Located at 222 Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  It is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. Admission is free. Further information about programs and events can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the Museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.