Cumberland County Prehistorical Museum

To visit the museum is to enter the world of the Indians who inhabited the lower Delaware Vend of the last Ice Age, the Paleo (Clovis) Indians were the first primitive people to penetrate this region.  Many subsequent Indian cultures followed in their wake, leaving physical evidence of their passing in the earth’s archives. This salvaged evidence is exhibited in the form of stone and bone artifacts, pottery and native crafts. When combined, they illustrate the evolution of the Indian societies who occupied Southern New Jersey. 

Of special interest to the children are over 1000 fossils from 4 time periods of the earth’s geological development. Extinct trilobites, whale and porpoise vertebrae, crabs, lobster, squid, mollusks, sting rays and giant shark teeth special display case. Also a foot print in stone of a bird-like dinosaur called a “Grallator.” All of these things were found in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. They illustrate a fascinating array of land and marine life which once roamed the earth’s primordial landscape.