Sneak Preview Of Upcoming Events At Lost City Museum

By JESSICA PETERSON

The Progress

Members of the Chamber of Commerce learned about exciting new events taking place at the Lost City Museum during a monthly membership meeting held on Wednesday, July 20.

Members gathered at the Old Overton Gym for a luncheon and listened to guest speaker, Virginia Lucas. Lucas is a curator and archaeologist at the Lost City Museum. Originally from Tennessee, Lucas came to local museum to finish work on her Doctorate. She specializes in lab archaeology and the identification of human and animal bones from 500-1000 years ago.

At the meeting, Lucas announced the opening of two new exhibits at the Lost City Museum. One of these exhibits has pieces which were used as personal adornment by early natives like bolo necklaces and beadwork. The jewelry is made from raw materials such as turquoise, azurite, malachite, and shell.

“It’s a smaller exhibit,” Lucas explained during the meeting. “It will be looking at ancient jewelry that has been excavated throughout here in the Moapa Valley. We will be looking at more historic as well as modern jewelry.”

Lucas then went on to describe a second and newer exhibit. This one will be centered around a cradle board which was given to the museum on a long-term loan by the family of Willis Evans.
“Willis Evans was an archaeologist and a Pitt River Indian in the 1920s who actually excavated with Mark Harrington and excavated the Pueblo Grande de Nevada site,” Lucas explained. “The museum used to have more information on Willis Evans and then as things changed, exhibits changed out, that kind of went away.”

Descendants of Willis Evans approached the museum staff before the pandemic, looking to bring him back to the public’s attention. They brought the cradle board which was made by Willis Evans’ father to carry Willis when he was a baby. It has been passed down from the youngest son for four generations and is now considered unsafe due to age and use.

Along with the cradle board, the exhibit will display several baskets that were made by Willis Evans’ wife as well as items previously displayed at the Clark County Museum. In the next year, the Lost City Museum also hopes to receive Willis Evans’ field notebooks which are currently located in Arizona.
“[The exhibit] will highlight [Willis Evans’] contributions to archaeology, which were numerous,” Lucas said. “We just don’t hear about it because, you know, he was a minority. So we wanted to highlight that. It will be available for at least a couple years.”

Lucas then went on to inform members of the upcoming “Hot & Dusty Fine Arts Invitational.” This will be the fourth annual fine arts invitational put on by the museum.

The reception is open to the public and will take place on August 27 from 6-8 p.m. There will be a silent auction during the reception to raise money for a climate-controlled facility on the grounds of the Lost City Museum to house artifacts and provide research space.

This year will be a photography invitational focusing on animals (wild or domestic) of Nevada. Back in March of this year, photographers were instructed to send in three photos of animals by May 15. The counsel at the museum have since picked the top 20 to be on display at the Hot & Dusty Invitational.

“There were [photos of] hummingbirds, turkey vultures, big horned sheep, the wild horses from Northern Nevada,” Lucas said. “One entry was just a horse that they took into the desert and took a photoshoot with it. There’s nobody on it. It’s just the horse.”

The printed photographs will be available to view starting August 3. Locals can come to the museum and vote on their favorites for the “People’s Choice Award.”

Lucas also mentioned a Kid’s Day event to be held on October 8 from 9:30-11:30 a.m. This free event is offered to kids ages Kindergarten through fifth grade. In the past, they have dissected owl pellets, painted sandstone, and polished amber.

For more information about events and exhibits at the Lost City Museum, visit lostcitymuseum.org.