For Immediate Release Contact: Nancy O'Shea (312) 665-7103 (For Media Use Only) The Exhibition at a Glance Exhibition Title: The Ancient Americas Public Opening: Friday, March 9, 2007 Media Preview: Tuesday, March 6, 2007 9 a.m. CST Overview: Step into the windswept world of Ice-Age mammoth hunters. Walk through a replica of an 800-year-old pueblo dwelling and imagine your entire family cooking, eating, and sleeping in one small room. Explore the Aztec empire and its island capital, Tenochtitlan, a city of more than 200,000 people and an extraordinary feat of engineering for any era. Discover what Field Museum scientists and others have learned about the Americans who lived here before us, and how it’s changing nearly everything we thought we knew! The Ancient Americas takes you on a journey through 13,000 years of cultural evolution in the western hemisphere, where hundreds of diverse societies thrived long before the arrival of Europeans. In this 19,000-square-foot exhibition you’ll live the epic story of the peopling of these continents, from the Arctic to the tip of South America. Discover how and why the early Americans developed farming, created new forms of artistic expression, and forged mighty empires. See more than 2,200 artifacts, and come to understand the ingenuity with which ancient peoples met the challenges of their times and places...as we meet ours today. Location: The Field Museum 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496 312/922-9410 General Information 312/665-7009 TDD (for the hearing-impaired) Tickets: Admission to The Ancient Americas is free with general admission to The Field Museum ($15 for adults, $10 for children 3-11, and $12 for seniors and students with ID). Discounts are available for Chicago residents. Visit www.fieldmuseum.org or call (312) 922-9410 for details. To purchase tickets call 866-FIELD-03 (866-343-5303), visit www.fieldmuseum.org, or come to the Field Museum box office. Special rates are available for tour operators and groups of 15 or more. Call the Museum’s Group Sales office toll-free at 888-FIELD-85 (888-343-5385). Programs: On March 10, Dr. Jonathan Haas, lead curator of The Ancient Americas, offers a compelling, first-hand look at the process of bringing the exhibition to life. On June 9, the exhibition’s keynote lecture, Pueblo Memories, Oral Traditions, will feature Dr. Sue-Ellen Jacobs and Tessie Naranjo, who weave a tapestry of stories from Puebloan oral history. Additional programs and activities include lectures, family workshops, daily gallery programs, student classes, and teacher workshops. For updates on public programs and special events, please call (312) 665-7400. <<Return to The Ancient Americas Press Kit