OSHKOSH PUBLIC MUSEUM
- People of the Waters - Paleoindian
- Paleoindian
At least 13,000 years ago
Picture a frigid Wisconsin that looks more like the sub-Arctic Boreal forest. At times, ice sheets up to two miles thick crept across the land. In this environment, the first people of Wisconsin t... View Exhibit Page
- People of the Waters - Archaic
- Archaic
10,000 to 2,500 years ago
The climate warmed, though it was still cooler and wetter than today. Oak and hickory trees replaced spruce and pine. Native people lived in small bands, moving frequently, they hunted deer and fish a... View Exhibit Page
- People of the Waters - Woodland
- Woodland
2,500 to 800 years ago
You would recognize the climate of Woodland Oshkosh - it was like today. Native people began settling in more sedentary villages. By the Late Woodland period, they planted corn, beans, squash, tobacco a... View Exhibit Page
- People of the Waters - Oneota
- Oneota
1,000 to 350 years ago
Before Europeans arrived in Wisconsin, the Oneota people built large farming settlements here. The Oneota may have evolved from the local Woodland people or they may have been a new people moving into our... View Exhibit Page
- People of the Waters - Fur Trade
- Fur Trade
350 to 150 years ago
The arrival of Europeans changed everything for Native people. They traded furs and services for manufactured goods. Augustin Grignon established the first permanent post in Winnebago County in 1818. Thi... View Exhibit Page
- People of the Waters - Travel and Trade
- Before cars and trains and planes, what was the best way to travel? Native people used the rivers and streams like highways, carrying goods and people across the country. Many of the trade routes were indirect. One group would trade with their neighb... View Exhibit Page
- People of the Waters - Natural Resources
- How would you get by without modern technology? Early Native people depended on their environment for everything they needed, from food to tools. They paid close attention to the seasons, traveling to find the best resources. They let little go to wa... View Exhibit Page
- People of the Waters - History Underfoot
- How does something become an archaeological artifact? These are the things that people leave behind. It happens every day. Trash gets thrown in a landfill, a windstorm coats an abandoned building with dust, mud buries a dropped item. Over time, soil... View Exhibit Page
- People of the Waters - Limestone Wall
- Cast replicas of fossils within the Museum's collection are embedded in this simulation of the Niagara Escarpment, an erosion resistent limestone formation which forms the eastern banks of Lake Winnebago and the cliffs of High Cliff State Park. The... View Exhibit Page