Planet Ice: Mysteries of the Ice Ages

OPENING JUNE 13, 2026
This summer, cool off inside the History Center’s newest exhibition.

Journey through Earth’s prehistoric past in Planet Ice: Mysteries of the Ice Ages, an immersive experience that uncovers how the ice age shaped our world and its people.

Produced by the Canadian Museum of Nature, Planet Ice takes visitors on an epic voyage spanning 80,000 years, exploring a frozen world transformed by glaciers, a changing climate, and people who adapted to survive.

Come face-to-face with mastodons, saber-tooth cats, and other ice age giants that once roamed the land alongside early humans.

Here in Western Pennsylvania, ice age people sheltered at Meadowcroft Rockshelter — the oldest documented site of human habitation in North America — and fearsome predators prowled the region, like short-faced bears, dire wolves, and other megafauna.

Step back in time with remarkable specimens that bring this frozen world to life and reveal the enormous scale of these creatures — including a Buffalo Creek mastodon bone found just seven miles from Meadowcroft and selected remains of the famous Bridgeville mastodon, uncovered just off what is now the I-79 southbound ramp.

Test your survival skills at an interactive atlatl station, where you can use a prehistoric spear thrower to experience how the region’s earliest inhabitants hunted for food during the ice age.

Exhibit Highlights

• More than 100 specimens, artifacts, and models, which are complemented by interactives and multimedia that explore the impacts of ice
• Full scale skeletal replicas of ice age animals like a mastodon, giant beaver, short-faced bear, and Smilodon — a saber-toothed cat that became extinct about 10,000 years ago
• Tools and artifacts used over 1,000 years ago by the Tuniit (Dorset) and Thule-Inuit peoples in Canada’s Arctic
• Authentic Paleo-Indian tools and artifacts dating to the ice age, including an elk tooth and passenger pigeon bones recovered from Meadowcroft Rockshelter
• Hands-on interactives that magically create the illusion of a woolly mammoth or American lion emerging from a snow-filled landscape
• Rare local discoveries connected to Western Pa.’s prehistoric past on loan from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Bethany College

A Prehistoric Adventure for the Whole Family

Beat the heat at the Smithsonian’s home in Pittsburgh this summer — and uncover the mysteries buried beneath the ice. Kids ages 17 and under always receive free admission at the History Center, thanks to the Kamin “Free for Kids” Initiative.

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Planet Ice: Mysteries of the Ice Ages is created by the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada, and is made possible thanks to tour partner Polar Knowledge Canada.

The exhibition is supported by Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD) and Visit PA.