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Timeline
| Timeline of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter |
14,000 B.C. - The earliest human inhabitants of North America settle a campsite at what is now Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Avella, Pa.
1955 - Albert Miller discovers ancient tools at a groundhog hole on the family's farm, which is now part of Meadowcroft.
1969 - The Miller family establishes the Meadowcroft Foundation, a nonprofit organization that would later own and operate Meadowcroft Village.
1973 - Dr. James Adovasio and a team of University of Pittsburgh archaeologists begin open excavation at what is now Meadowcroft Rockshelter.
1974 - Radiocarbon dating tests show artifacts found inside the Rockshelter date back 16,000 years; making Meadowcroft the oldest site of human habitation in North America.
1978 - Meadowcroft is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
1993 - The Senator John Heinz History Center begins to operate Meadowcroft.
2000 - National Geographic Magazine states, "...the Meadowcroft Rockshelter near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, show[s] that people may have lived in North America nearly 20,000 years ago."
2002 - The Washington Post says of Meadowcroft Rockshelter, "...a staggering finding, suggesting a whole new way of looking at the ancient history of the Americas...date after date showed that the site was inhabited before archaeological orthodoxy said it could have been."
2005 - The U.S. Secretary of the Interior designates Meadowcroft Rockshelter a National Historic Landmark.
2007 - Meadowcroft Rockshelter closes for renovations and construction of a new enclosure that will preserve the historic site and provide an enhanced visitor experience.
May 2008 - Meadowcroft Rockshelter reopens to the public, unveiling a new enclosure that provides a dramatic viewing experience and a more in-depth examination of the 16,000-year-old Rockshelter.
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