Two exhibits recently opened at our own Museum of Peoples and Cultures. Located on north Canyon Road in Provo, just a couple of blocks northwest of campus, the museum is open to the general public and is, in fact, a treat for students and families alike. Both the Greater Than Gold: Textiles of the Ancient Andes and the More Than Stone: Historical Archaeology of the Original Provo Tabernacle exhibits are designed and curated by students.

The Greater Than Gold exhibit illustrates the extiles for the ancient Andean people. Without a formal written language, the unspoken messages were communicated in other ways, one of those ways being cloth. Fine textiles were a sign of social status, wealth, and power. For this reason, there were many influences of textiles and cloth on culture and behavior.

Of the More Than Stone exhibit, Jess Simpson, a grad student at BYU who was able to volunteer during the excavation of the former tabernacle and meetinghouse, along with many other students. Of the experience she said, “my favorite part was finding things. I was right next to Haylie when she pulled a tiny doll with a painted face, and I found another little metal trinket. It was neat to see things that somebody loved a long time ago. These people loved this building and were there often enough to lose things like buttons and coins and toys. I think that that is a testament to the faith of the saints that settled here – they loved their church buildings.”

The exhibits opened during an open house on January 19th, and will be celebrated during the upcoming BYU Night at the Museums, in collaboration with five other campus museums, on January 29th, as well as during a Peruvian Date Night on February 12th. For more information on those events, please visit the MPC’s website, follow them on Facebook, or check out BYU’s calendar.