The University of New Mexico Maxwell Museum of Anthropology hosts the Ancestors Lecture with senior archaeologist for the Yukon Government, P. Gregory Hare on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hibben Center. This event is free and open to all.

Hare presents, “A 9,000 year old window to the past: Investigating Yukon’s Ice Patches,” discussing the highlights, challenges and accomplishments of the multidisciplinary Yukon Ice Patch Project and its place in the rapidly expanding new discipline of glacial archaeology. Research has provided important data to climate change research while providing vital information to the ways of ancient cultures. Melting alpine ice fields in Canada’s Yukon Territory have revealed unprecedented examples of ancient hunting weapons and tools.

Researchers have explored these mountains and amassed an extraordinary collection of artifacts, some locked in the ice for as much as 9,000 years. The tools provide new glimpses into the lives of subarctic hunter gatherers in their relentless pursuit of caribou and bison.

The lecture supports the Archeology on Ice exhibition funded by the National Science Foundation currently on display at the Maxwell Museum. Archeology on Ice describes the multiyear research project by Maxwell Director James Dixon, Ahtna Tribal members and UNM graduate students Michael Gooms and Mark Williams.

For more information, contact Mary Beth Hermans at (505) 277-1400 or email to; mhermans@unnm.edu.