(FREE ON WED.) The Field Museum is known around the world for their in-depth Dinosaur research. They have the biggest and most complete T. Rex ever found, but they also have the smallest Dino as well ( Located 2nd floor, east side after Sue's immense head that was too heavy to place on her body on the main floor.) Don't make the mistake of thinking Dino's are all that this museum holds !
1.) enter the lifesize tomb of a pharaoh on the main floor and wind your way through narrow passages before you enter the lower level and the 23 mummies who live here. Enter the marketplace of that time for fun activities, such as printing your own name in hieroglyphics.
2.) Maori House of the ancestors - located in the upper level of the Pacific Island collection. The Field museum began it's collections at a time of imperialistic abuses of other cultures which allowed them to put together an amazing amount of material but in a rather unethical way. This spiritual house was "bought" in exchange for glass bead necklaces. In the museum's honor, they went back to the Maori several years ago, and offered to return the house. The Maori's elders realized that the house has been used wisely in the purpose of education as well as celebrations of weddings and funerals that have been held in the museum. After serious reflection, they asked that the ancestors house remain to guide US in a better understanding of THEM. ( with the eyes of their ancestors watching, of course.)
3.) Lions of Tsavo- located main floor-Africa. Remember the movie "Ghost of the Darkness" ? Well, these two lions are the real maneatters featured in that movie. There was a hunter brought by the railroad to Africa to kill them, where they ended up as rugs for awhile. A recent examination has found the reason WHY they ate humans. It appears that these blokes had a bad case of gum disease, and human skin was easier to pull apart than...let's say...rhino skin.
4.) FREE tours offered by volunteers from the information
desk at 11 and 2 during the week, and 11 and 1 on weekends.