In Bismarck, North Dakota, earlier this month, fifth- and sixth-graders explored the Ice Age-era Riverbluff Cave in southern Greene County. They didn’t physically tour the fossil-filled archaeological site that was accidentally discovered by construction workers in 2001.

The students sat in the comfort of their classrooms and watched as David Harrison, author of “Cave Detectives: Unraveling the Mystery of an Ice Age Cave,” moderated the discussion from an interactive videoconferencing session at the Library Center.

From the ceiling-to-floor screen in the auditorium, lead paleontologist Matt Forir broadcast live from the clay-coated chambers, answering questions and explaining its significance and magnificence as the oldest or second oldest known Ice Age fossil site on the North American continent.

North Dakota students weren’t the only ones tuned in to the live show. Students in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and South Dakota via more than 200 separate video-streaming connections were able to ask questions and experience the excitement of getting as close as you can to being there without placing a destructive foot in the fragile cave.

Closer to home, more than 175 students from three schools in Poplar Bluff watched the video stream from the Library Center, according to Bill Giddings, the far-sighted guru at MOREnet, the state’s provider of Internet connectivity to educational organizations, who collaborated with the Springfield-Greene County Library District, Ozarks Technical Community College, Missouri State University, Greene County Commission, the city of Springfield and the Springfield-Greene County Parks Department to wire the cave with fiber optic cables to allow this kind of access to students all over the country.

The 2,000-foot-long cave is alive with fossils—mammoth and horse bones, peccary tracks, three-foot-long claw marks, some it from a million years ago. It’s old stuff that we are finding and viewing using high-tech methods.

Jeanne C. Duffey, community relations director for the Springfield-Greene County Library District, can be reached at jeanned@thelibrary.org.