the grasslands near Front Royal. The area was a

the grasslands near Front Royal.

The area was a hunter’s paradise. Grasslands and the edges of dense forests supported large herds of elk, deer and moose.

Thunderbird Museum and Archelogical Park holds clues to the nature of human society in the region some 12.000 years ago.

Along the banks of South Fork of the Shenandoah River, scientists have found remains of hunting camps and tool manufacturing workshops which date to 9,5008.000 B.C., the Paleo-Indian period. The park’s Flint Run Paleo-Indian Complex was the first prehistoric district placed on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia.

When man first came to the area, the climate was much colder and wetter than it is today. The trend toward drier conditions was accompanied by a transition to more heavily forested terrain.

The history of man in the area is the main focus of the Thunderbird Museum. On display are the tools used by the early Indian in habitants, such as 11,500-year-old spear points. Other exhibits show how man’s technology and lifestyles changed as he faced an ever-changing environment.

The region has other sites of dvilzations from prehistoric and historic periods. Th underbird scientists and teams from Catholic University are working on three other sites: a Late Archaic/Early Woodland camp site (1500 B.C.), a Late Woodland hamlet/village (1300-1400 B.C.) and a historic mill house site (destroyed by the floods of 1870). Artifacts from those sites will be displayed at the Thunderbird Museum.

The 86-acre park and museum is owned and operated by a private, non-profit corporation. Admission fees help support archelogical research. A slide show, interpretive exhibits, 13 stations of cultural and enviromental interest along three miles of nature trails and museum exhibits ' 1 ‘ ' : ‘J • ' -! i