July 31, 2019
MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. — Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex and the Moundsville-Marshall County Public Library are hosting NASA’s mobile STARLAB Planetarium on Tuesday, Aug. 6. Activities will be held at the Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex in Moundsville from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and at the Moundsville-Marshall County Public Library from 3 to 5 p.m. The program is coordinated by the library and is sponsored by the Evan G. Roberts Trust through BB&T. The program is free and open to the public. No registration is required.
At 11 a.m., the planetarium will pair constellations of stars with legends and myths told about them by Native American tribes such as the Navajo, Hopi, Zuni and Cherokee. The program will be presented by Josh Revels, education specialist at the Katherine Johnson NASA IV & V Education Resource Center and adjunct professor at Fairmont State University. Revels will provide learning experiences in the form of a STARLAB Planetarium Show that will provide historic information pertaining to the Apollo 11 Mission as well as scientific knowledge of the Moon, the Milky Way Galaxy and the planets of our solar system. In addition, the program features storytelling of the stars and sky through the eyes of the Navajo, Shoshoni, Blackfoot, Cherokee, Tewa, Hopi and Algonquin tribes. Individual programs will begin every half hour, with the last showing scheduled at 1:30 p.m. Several crafts relating to the program such as a Big Dipper finder and a hand-held fan decorated with images of characters from the legends also will be available.
The Moundsville-Marshall County Public Library will offer visitors the opportunity to make and launch a water bottle rocket to cap off the afternoon. Students visiting the library can make a rocket from 3 to 4 p.m., and the rockets will then be launched from 4 to 5 p.m.
Revels serves as a NASA solar system ambassador local to West Virginia, as part of a program managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. The program trains motivated volunteer-presenters from each state across the nation in sharing the latest science discoveries of NASA’s missions through a variety of events that inspire communities.
Operated by the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex features one of the largest conical burial mounds built by the Adena people between 250 – 150 B.C. and ranks as one of the largest earthen mortuary mounds anywhere in the world. Exhibits and displays in the Delf Norona Museum interpret what is known about the lives of these prehistoric people and the construction of the mound. The complex also houses the West Virginia Archaeological Research and Admission to Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex is free. The Delf Norona Museum, located at 801 Jefferson Avenue, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and closed Sunday and Monday. Outdoor access closes at 4:30 p.m.
For more information about activities and programs at Grave Creek Mound, contact Andrea Keller, cultural program coordinator, at (304) 843-4128 or andrea.k.keller@wv.gov or visit www.facebook.com/gravecreekmound and www.twitter.com/gravecreekmound.
