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Dawn Scher Thomae

Curator of Collections/Senior Collection Manager

Thomae@mpm.edu or 414-278-6157

Cosmic Curiosities

“The most exciting phrase in science is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny…’”
~ Isaac Asimov, American Scientist & Author

Two Startling Surprises from Space

By Valerie J. Davis

Pompeii Today - Via di Mercurio
(Photo courtesy of Elisabetta Cova)

During the 1850s, Swiss lake levels hit a 200-year record low, which revealed the remains of prehistoric pile-dwelling settlements.

This discovery created a surge of interest in the Swiss Neolithic now known as, “Pfahlbaufieber” (“Pile Dwelling Fever”). Local residents, called “Pfahlbaufischer” (“pile-dwelling fishers”), sought to capitalize on the popularity of these new discoveries by “fishing” cultural remains out of the shallow waters from boats using long poles.

A hillside village. (MPM Neg. #: 80088B)

Life in New York

The Wisconsin Oneida are an Iroquoian-speaking Indian tribe currently residing on a reservation in northeastern Wisconsin near Green Bay. They originally came from upstate New York. The Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora make up the Six Nations League of the Iroquois. The Oneida refer to themselves as Oneyoteaka -- "People of the Standing Stone." According to Oneida traditions, there was always a large, red boulder near the main Oneida village in New York.