Radio Chipstone: Natural History in Our Own Backyard

Published October 17, 2015 at 3:00 PM CDT

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Curator of collections at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Geology Museum Carrie Eaton with the skeleton formerly known as the Boaz Mastodon.

Jeff Miller / UW-Madison Geology Museum

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Curator of collections at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Geology Museum Carrie Eaton with the skeleton formerly known as the Boaz Mastodon.

Jeff Miller / UW-Madison Geology Museum

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Replicas of prehistoric animal skeletons --including a mastodon, at left, and duck-billed dinosaur, at right -- are on display in the vertebrate room at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Geology Museum.

Jeff Miller / UW-Madison Geology Museum

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Jeff Miller / UW-Madison Geology Museum

The University of Wisconsin Madison Geology Museum was established in 1848, the same year Wisconsin was granted statehood.

Museum curator Carrie Eaton explains that even though what lives in the museum predates us all, it still manages to tap into the bit of Indiana Jones in all of us:

Gianofer Fields studies material culture at UW-Madison and is the curator of "Radio Chipstone" - a project funded by the Chipstone Foundation, a decorative arts foundation whose mission is preserving and interpreting their collection, as well as stimulating research and education in the decorative arts.