MoAW presents
Spotlight:
MESOZOICA
The Age of Dinosaurs
Compsognathus longipes
A Cute But Deadly Dinosaur
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MESOZOICA
The Age of Dinosaurs
From the dawn of the Age of Dinosaurs to the last of their kind, these laboratory fossil casts of legendary discoveries guide us through the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods known as the Mesozoic Era. Gathered from more than 30 museums worldwide, the collection includes fully-mounted dinosaurs, skulls, teeth, claws, and eggs displayed in geological, chronological order to illustrate the awesome story of the evolution of dinosaurs to their ultimate extinction.
Displaying casts of rare fossils from the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, this prestigious collection includes skeletons, skulls, claws, and eggs gathered from such revered museums as the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, The Royal Ontario Museum, and the Carnegie Museum, as well as many others.
These compelling fossil casts, rarely seen outside of their respective museums, are on view together exclusively in MESOZOICA: The Age of Dinosaurs.
30 NASA photographs of the Universe titled STARSCAPE: A Journey To The Beginning of Time associates the fossil record with the origins of the Cosmos.
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THE JURASSIC PERIOD
from 195 million to
140 million years ago.
The Jurassic period, with its lush rainforests, derives its name from an abundantly fossiliferous sequence of chalky deposits discovered in the Jura Mountains bordering Switzerland and France. For the 55 million year duration of the Jurassic period, the supercontinent of Pangaea was gradually being wrenched into 2 separate masses, Gondwanaland (Africa, South America, Australia, India, Arabia, and Antarctica) and Laurasia (Europe, Asia, Greenland, and North America). Among the survivors of the Triassic extinction, tiny primitive mammals began to diversify during the Early Jurassic. By the dawning of the Late Jurassic (150 million years ago), the Atlantic Ocean had formed and the drifting continents had barely begun to resemble their present shapes. Gigantic dinosaurs that cared for their young had evolved from their smaller Late Triassic ancestors. Land bridges between the continents allowed the thriving herds of dinosaurs to migrate across great distances. Palm-like plants appeared and flourished throughout the warm, swampy landscapes of the period, nourishing the largest creatures that ever walked the Earth.
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Suborder Theropoda,
Infraorder Coelurosauria Compsognathus longipes
Late Jurassic, Germany
Of all the known fossils of adult dinosaurs, Compsognathus (“Elegant Jaw”) has the distinction of being the smallest. Running upright on its strong hind legs and stalking the underbrush for smaller Reptiles along the forested seashores of Jurassic Germany and France, Compsognathus was a swift and capable hunter, armed with sharp claws and teeth. This tiny coelurosaur was a relative of such giant creatures as the Tyrannosaurus rex of a later age. More closely related to Archaeopteryx (the bird-dinosaur), this skeleton shows that they shared a very recent common ancestor, suggesting that birds may have inherited their warmblooded metabolism from their dinosaur forebears.
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The smaller bones exposed within the rib cage of this well-known specimen have been identified as the undigested skeleton of Bavarisaurus, a tiny lizard that was devoured just before the predator died. With its neck and tail bent backward, this Compsognathus (discovered in 1861) was long thought to have died in agony, although its posture is now attributed to the tightening of tissues as the carcass dried out prior to fossilization and is known as the "death pose." From the famous lithographic limestone of Solnhofen. Bavarian State Institute for Paleontology and Historical Geography. |
MoAW's mission is to educate a diverse audience about the history of ancient civilizations and prehistoric life using fossils and artifacts from a variety of cultures and time periods; to enhance universal curriculum development for local and surrounding school districts, colleges, and universities while establishing museum diversity for the Coachella Valley.
Hours of Operation:
Monday - Saturday
10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Sunday 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.
The last admission is taken one hour before closing.
Admission:
$15.00 Adults
$12.00 Students, Seniors, & Military
$ 3.00 Discount available for Coachella Valley Residents
$10.00 Group Rate for 10 or more individuals.
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, MoAW is a member of the North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) Association, the American Alliance of Museums, and the California Association of Museums.
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VESSELS OF THE GODS
Treasures of the Ancient Greeks
1650 to 410 B.C.E
Reflecting the brilliance of a millennium of ancient Aegean culture, four distinct periods produced the designs of these vases: Minoan, Mycenaean, Corinthian, and Attic. Essentially consisting of silhouetted figures drawn against a background of red, black, or white, this art form gradually dies out after the Persian wars, c. 475-450 B.C.E. Shaped and painted by hand, these exquisite reproductions were created in Greece by master artists from the originals housed in The National Museum, Athens, The Heraklion Museum, The Thera Museum, The Corinth Museum, The Delphi Museum, The Louvre Museum, The Vatican Museum, and The Museo Civico, Brescia.
Please, feel free to preview this collection on MoAW's website: www.moaw.org
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Next Week:
Do you have a favorite piece at MoAW you would like to see highlighted in our weekly email? You can visit www.moaw.org, see the collections tab, visit the catalogs, and view Spotlights From The Past.
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Members Perks
The newest perk of membership: Free admission to over 1,200 museums nationwide through the North American Reciprocal Museum Program (NARM) Plus, discounts at their museum shops and restaurants (if given to their members). Local museums include the Palm Springs Art Museum and Cabot's Pueblo Museum, several museums in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, throughout California, all 50 states, and the District of Columbia, plus Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda. This is available to all members at the Donor Level ($125.00) or higher. Current members who qualify will be receiving new membership cards with the NARM logo to be used at participating museums.
Current members who would like to upgrade their membership to take advantage of this new benefit please give us a call, (442) 268-5004.
Click below for more information and to join.
THANK YOU
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ON DISPLAY EXCLUSIVELY
AT THE
MUSEUM OF ANCIENT WONDERS
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FACES OF AFRICA:
A Mystical View of
Tribal Heritage
(38 Replica Masks and Sculptures
of African Antiquity)
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TUTANKHAMUN:
"Wonderful Things"
Treasures From The Pharaoh's Tomb
(124 Egyptian replicas)
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MESOZOICA:
The Age of Dinosaurs
(Approximately 100 fossil-cast dinosaur elements and fully-mounted skeletons from around the world.)
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LUCY:
The Story of Human Origins
(Courtesy of the Institute of Human Origins and the National Museum of Ethiopia,
Addis Ababa)
On view exclusively at the
Museum of Ancient Wonders
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