UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — From backyard pottery shards to ancient shark teeth, curious collectors will have the chance to uncover the history behind their finds at the American Museum of Natural History’s annual EarthFest this Saturday.
The day-long event, which celebrates the wonders of the planet, invites visitors to bring their own artifacts and natural specimens to be identified by museum experts—reminiscent of the beloved “Antiques Roadshow,” officials said.
At the heart of EarthFest will be the museum’s identification stations, where professionals will examine items brought in by the public and offer insights into their origins. This signature experience draws inspiration from Identification Day, a popular tradition launched in 1979 that ran for over four decades before being paused in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Over the years, the museum has helped identify some extraordinary discoveries brought in by visitors,” a museum spokesperson noted. These include a 3,000-year-old hand axe unearthed in a Staten Island backyard, fossilized dinosaur tracks embedded in a Massachusetts rock slab, a 72-million-year-old shark tooth from New Jersey, and even a Pleistocene-era fossilized walrus skull found on a Virginia beach.
In addition to the ID stations, EarthFest will feature a variety of hands-on, family-friendly activities. Highlights include botanical arts and crafts and immersive digital experiences that let participants transform into sharks, among other nature-inspired adventures.
Museum officials ask that attendees refrain from bringing live or dead animals, with the exception of insects, for identification.
EarthFest is open to all and aims to ignite curiosity and appreciation for the natural world—one artifact at a time.
