12,000-Year-Old News
If yesterday's paper is today's trash, this news has already hardened into some form of sedimentary rock that your seventh grader is studying in geology:
In the Northwest Washington neighborhood of Palisades, best known for its annual Fourth of July parade and a restaurant owned by the writer and performer of the 1970s pop hit "Afternoon Delight," there's stuff under the ground that's really old, like maybe 12,000 years old. And now, to show off some of those items, a museum of ancient artifacts has opened. The Palisades Museum of Prehistory boasts a collection put together by Palisades resident Doug Dupin. There are glass bottles, bits of pottery, stone tools, and assorted other items.
You can get a free tour on Thursday afternoons from 4-6. It takes 15 minutes. Just write to director@pmop.org Or you can look at some of the stuff right here on Webly Webster's machine.
The museum got its start after a December meeting at which the neighborhood association and the National Park Service invited Palisades residents to come together with any cool stuff they might have dug up in their backyards. People came, there was some neat stuff, and now there's a little collection of the artifacts, though a lot of them haven't been seen again since that meeting.
Neighborhood museums--quick, set them up and visit them before the NIMBYs get on the case.
By Marc Fisher |
July 14, 2006; 7:48 AM ET
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Posted by: JC | July 14, 2006 9:21 AM
Wow! How technology changes things!
A few years ago, JC would have had to wait until the next day to read about this murder/suicide.
Posted by: Impatience | July 14, 2006 10:05 AM
I recently did an excavation at the landfall above Florida Ave where Adams Morgan meets Dupont, and recovered about 80 intact old glass bottles from the late-victorian early modern period of ~1885-~1910. Pretty cool stuff, some with fragmentary original paper lables, many heavily embossed.
Posted by: Mark | July 14, 2006 10:13 AM
The McLean murder-suicide has been up on the Post home page for several hours; the early morning folks on the Continuous News Desk were putting their emphasis on the battles in the Mideast in the pre-dawn period when JC was looking for the scoop on the murder.
Posted by: Fisher | July 14, 2006 4:26 PM
I just read your article on "Duke case: Wolves in blazers and kahakis" in our midwestern paper. I thought it was great. These rich kids and parents think they can do just about anything and get away with it because of all of the lawyers and money. There are alot of good ones out there (hopefully more good than bad) but it is still a little scarry that it will be the ones with money that run our country.
Posted by: Cindy | July 14, 2006 5:13 PM
These may be wise words about neighborhood museums "Neighborhood museums--quick, set them up and visit them before the NIMBYs get on the case." There is no shortage of NIMBYs in the hood, but they must recognize which fights to pick. The Palisades Museum of Prehistory is a refreshing hiccup in the midst of sterile development.
Also, the museum's start predated the meeting in December. Although the meeting did serve as a reminder as to why the museum is so necessary.
Posted by: Doug Dupin | July 16, 2006 11:14 AM
Mr Fisher:
In blogger, you write:
"... you can look at some of the stuff right here on Webly Webster's machine."
Kinely explaim the term "Webly Webster"?
Posted by: Lhadlik Ner | July 21, 2006 4:12 AM
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Sorry to post this here, but speaking of OLD NEWS, Marc what is wrong with post.com in posting current news in a timely fashion? Saw on the news this morning about the murder/suicde involving a 12 year old and his dad in McLean this morning. Nothing, nada, zip on the Post as of 9:30am even though its all over the local newscasts and has been since the 6am news. Are there not enough people working to put a paragraph up there? This is a complaint I've had several times with the post.com where a local breaking story will take hours to even get a mention here.