The museum takes you on a journey into the distant past, when Missouri was nearly 500 feet under a giant inland sea. Learn about the geology of the area and life forms native to our region. Exhibits include fossils, bones, rocks, minerals and crystals reaching back 2.5 million years.The Activity Center is a hands-on classroom and lab where participants attend workshops, seminars, lectures, slide show presentations, movies and special events. Also, there is space for meetings, events and birthday parties.The Museum Shop has rocks, fossils, posters, gifts and souvenirs. You can hunt for real fossils on the museum’s property ($5 fee). Field trips for school groups, youth groups, and home-school groups are welcomed, with reservations.The Museum and Institute are located at the site of Riverbluff Cave, the oldest Ice Age fossil cave in North America. The cave is a continuing source of rich fossils, including mammoths and other animals. (The cave itself is not open to the public.)