Mammoth Cave Museum
Background
Mammoth Cave Museum
Mammoth Cave and Bird Museum of Natural History is about 9 miles north of Shoshone, Idaho on Highway 93 and about 1.5 miles on a dirt road to the west (251 W Thorn Creek Rd, Shoshone, ID 83352) . The turn-off is well-marked. Richard Olsen, owner of Mammoth Cave and Bird Museum of Natural History is 80 years-old. The collection in his museum represents three generations of collecting from all over the world. The museum features birds, reptiles, fish, insects and mammals of the world mounted to display their colors for close up educational study. It also features large fossil collection, a large pioneer artifact collection, an old mining in Idaho display, everything from ore cars to blasting machines, pioneering farming in Idaho, stone age artifacts from around the world, an African display and ancient artifacts from South America and China, many other items pertain to history and nature. The collection has to be seen to be appreciated. This student-developed website features the names, photo, descriptions and museum location of about 600 artifacts and represents the work of students from the College of Southern Idaho (CSI)
Purpose of this Website:
In the spring of 2017, students in a College of Southern Idaho class titled, GNED 101, "Hands-on Anthropology and Biology," spent five Saturdays at the Shoshone, Idaho Mammoth Cave and Museum photographing and cataloging the multitude of artifacts found in the museum. This website provides a place to share their work and the many unique artifacts found at the museum.
The work continues in the summer of 2018 with the second GNED 101, "Hands-on Anthropology and Biology" class. During the 2019 summer class of the third GNED 101, "Hands-on Anthropology and Biology" class some significant changes were made to this website, including: specific pages, new photos and information for the Mayan and Nazca civilizations; videos of Mr. Richard Olsen talking about some of the artifacts; and additional information about the rock collections, fish and fossils. The videos of Mr. Olsen are incorporated in the website near a featured artifact, and all the videos can be found on the "Videos" page.
Note: The site is constantly under construction. Suggestions are welcome.
During the class in the spring of 2017, our work was reported through our Facebook page for “Hands-on Anthropology & Biology:" https://www.facebook.com/groups/ROParkersGNED101/
Museum map
This is a stone circular building. Roughly 7,800 square feet. There are six sections with three concentric isles. You can view objects on either side of the isles. Items described on this website can be located in the museum by using the map shown below. The numbers 1 through 6 indicate which "wedge" of the circular building. The letters A, B, C indicate which on the isles, and the letters "O" and "I" indicate if the item can be found on the outside (toward the outside wall) of the isle or the inside of the isle.
