DEEP DIVE

New San Antonio exhibit gives rare look inside hidden ice age cave

Researchers explore Friesenhahn Cave, now mapped in a Witte Museum exhibit.

Photo courtesy of Concordia University Texas

A new exhibit at San Antonio’s Witte Museum is letting locals spelunk a space few ever get to see. "Adventures in Texas Deep Time” maps out Concordia University Texas’ Friesenhahn Cave, once the home of one of the Ice Age’s most fearsome cats.

The joint effort between the museum and university used LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology to scan the North Bexar County cave. For most, the resulting video will be a first look into the active paleontological site, considered one of the United States’ most significant Ice Age finds.

Only Los Angeles’ famed La Brea Tar Pits has yielded more Pleistocene vertebrate fossils. The cave has produced more than 4,000 specimens across ice age mammals, reptiles, and birds. The only entrance, used since the earliest twentieth-century explorations, is a vertical twenty-eight-foot shaft, and there are no plans to open Friesenhahn to the public.

“The Friesenhahn Cave offers an extraordinary window into Texas’ distant past and new technology allows us to advance our research into unearthing many of the cave’s secrets,” said Dr. Jennifer Hofmann, associate professor of biology at Concordia Texas, in a statement.

In addition to exploring the den of the scimitar-toothed Homotherium serum, “Adventures” digs up millions of years of history from archaeological and paleontological sites throughout the state. The exhibit features research into the Battle of Medina and a glimpse at ancient West Texas rock art.The display also walks visitors through the research. Patrons can discover giant Texas mosasaur fossils, search for hidden artifacts using archaeological tools, and create their own dinosaur trackway.

The broad range of subjects is no accident for the museum. “Adventures” is timed to both Concordia Texas’ and Witte’s 100th birthdays. The new exhibit will run concurrently with the institution’s anniversary exhibit “The Witte Museum: 100 Years.”

“For a century, we have invited Texans to explore their land, their history, and their culture in ways that are active, engaging, and meaningful,” said CEO Dr. Michelle Cuellar Everidge in a release.

"Adventures in Texas Deep Time” runs through March 14, 2027, and the anniversary exhibit runs through January 9, 2027. For non-members, both are included in the price of regular admission, ranging from $11-$17. The Witte Museum is located at 3801 Broadway by Brackenridge Park.

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The Data Says...

Willie Nelson blasts data centers 'invading' Texas

Willie Nelson/ Facebook

Willie Nelson's critique was especially centered on his hometown of Abbott.

A country music legend is joining the conversation surrounding data centers in Texas.

Country music icon Willie Nelson, who himself calls the Central Texas area home, shared a statement urging Texans to "fight against" data centers, which he says are "invading our land."

In the statement, Nelson primarily speaks out against a data center in his hometown of Abbott, in Hill County, though he says his concerns extend to other towns as well. Nelson says he believes the "strength of rural America" comes from the people and the land, not from "big industrial footprints." He goes on to argue that data centers "only destroy the environment around them."

"I grew up in Abbott, and I still have a home there with farmed land where I can still see stars at night," Nelson said in the statement. "And now our community, like many others, needs to fight against data centers invading our land. The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting data center anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter). The strength of rural America has never come from big industrial footprints. It comes from generations of people, open spaces, local businesses and a connection to the land. All of America deserves thoughtful stewardship that doesn't steal farmland (where our essential shared-food is grown) and small family farmers' livelihoods, and not data centers that only destroy the environments around them. Whoever controls food and water, controls the masses. Let's not allow our own demise or give up control over necessary resources in the U.S. and especially in Abbott."

Data centers have become a polarizing topic in Texas as the state has seen sudden and rapid growth of data center development.

Residents in Temple, Texas recently tried to recall multiple City Council members after they voted to move forward with a controversial data center development. Hill County settled a lawsuit with a data center developer after the Commissioners Court attempted to enact a moratorium to pause data center development in the county.

A data center project near Cedar Creek Lake was recently halted by developer Diode after bipartisan backlash, and a coalition of farmers and ranchers held a protest at the Texas State Capitol in late July ahead of a scheduled meeting of the Texas Senate Committee on Finance to speak out against data centers.

Read the full story at our news partner KVUE.com.

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