On Saturday, October 19, 2024, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the National Park Service, California State Parks, and Western National Parks Association (WNPA) will host Archaeology Day at the Santa Monica Mountains Interagency Visitor Center in Calabasas.

The family-friendly event, including parking, is free and is organized to shed light on a discipline that is sometimes overlooked.

The morning will start with a blessing, land acknowledgment, and Native American presentations

All-day activities will include digging up artifacts in an “excavation” box, spear throwing, flint knapping demos, local artifacts on display, replica viewing and much more.

Visitors of all ages will also get a chance to earn a special patch and become junior archaeologists.

More details at www.samofund.org/outdoors-calendar#event=77687858.

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) is the largest urban national park in the country, encompassing more than 150,000 acres of mountains and coastline in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. A unit of the National Park System, it comprises a seamless network of local, state, and federal parks interwoven with private lands and communities. As one of only five Mediterranean ecosystems in the world, SMMNRA preserves the rich biological diversity of more than 450 animal species and 26 distinct plant communities. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/samo.