Looking at the past...

11:02am Saturday 10th February 2007

A NEW attraction at the Yorkshire Museum aims to let visitors discover the age of everything.

Opening today, the interactive Fingerprints Of Time exhibition will tell people how scientists and archaeologists work out how old things are - from 4.5 billion year old meteorites to a can of baked beans at the back of the cupboard.

The exhibition, which runs until the end of the year, will start by asking visitors to think of the oldest thing they can and to place objects in their correct chronological order. They can then explore the exhibition's four zones, which will let them know how scientists go about dating objects like dinosaur bones, how the location an object was found can give its date in history and how blue bottles can help solve modern day murder investigations.

There will also be special events like the how to date a Viking shield, which is being held every day in half-term.