Humboldt River Field Office Sponsors Lovelock Cave Days for Local Fourth Graders

WINNEMUCCA, Nev. – The annual Lovelock Cave Days will take place May 14-16, 2024 and will be hosted by the Humboldt River Field Office. In previous years, over 300 fourth graders from Winnemucca, Lovelock, McDermitt, and Orovada have toured the Marzen House Museum in Lovelock and Lovelock Cave for a day of fun-filled educational activities.

The event is sponsored by the agency as part of Nevada Archeology and Historic Preservation Month. Lovelock Cave Days was first held in 2006 in honor of the 1906 Antiquities Act Centennial and has since become an annual event which has grown in popularity with each passing year.

At the Marzen House Museum in Lovelock, the students will see artifacts from Lovelock Cave and learn about local history that included early mining, agriculture, vintage houses, and how people lived in earlier times. Native American speakers present local tribal culture and history, which is always a highlight of the event.

At Lovelock Cave, classes will provide interactive stations focused on the local tribal culture, ethnobotany, emigrants, and the archeology and geology of the cave. Other popular activities include a simulated atlatl throwing game and wildlife presentations.  Presenters include agency staff and retirees, as well as presenters and facilitators from the Marzen House Museum, Coeur Rochester Mine, the Forest Service, and various other volunteers. The students will receive Lovelock Cave Junior Ranger Badges for their successful completion of the day’s activities.

Lovelock Cave is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was used by Native peoples for thousands of years to store items such as the famous Lovelock Cave duck decoys, which at 2,000 years old, are the oldest in the world. For more information about the event, please contact Cedric Streater, Archeologist for the Humboldt River Field Office at 775-623-1500.