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Visitors can travel through prehistoric times by first entering the Cretaceous Period, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. Cruise through the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary, a period of mass extinction some scientists believe was caused by the impact of an asteroid or comet. Then discover the Eocene, an area made to look like a tropical forest abundant with new life and the emergence of modern mammals. Each section represents an era, with special lighting, floor coverings and ceiling treatments.
All animals and plants in the exhibit were first sketched by museum art director Jim Melli. He then created maquettes, small models that would inspire life-size fabrications of the extinct animals. The ferocious-looking megalodon shark was especially challenging. This prehistoric predatory fish swam in warm ocean waters, fed on dolphins and whales and could weigh in excess of 70,000 pounds.
Sharks don’t have skeletons or bones, so no fossils are available to give us clues to their dimensions. But they did leave behind 6-inch-long razor-sharp teeth, which helped determine proportions for the replica. The resulting 34-foot-long sculpture was constructed of foam and steel by Atomic Props in St. Paul, Minnesota, then shipped here in six pieces. It took more than a week of on-site planning and a crew of 10 to install the shark in the museum’s atrium.
An American lion that lived 11,000 years ago was recreated from resin and fiberglass and stands nearly 5 feet tall. And life-size models of a sea cow, an alberatosaurus and a lambeosaurus were designed with a fleshed-out side and a skeletal side so visitors can see into their bodies.
The artists who contributed to “Fossil Mysteries” have created visual excitement throughout the show. Metal sculptor Richard Webber designed horse, tortoise and walrus skeletons. Artists Tim Gunther, Duke Windsor and Doug Henderson illustrated interpretive panels. And a floor-to-ceiling fossil aquarium displays whale skeletons and skulls in front of a giant colorful mural, one of seven plein-air paintings by William Stout, a conceptualist and designer for such films as Walt Disney’s Dinosaur.
Lots of hands-on displays allow kids and grownups to get up close and personal with the past. Interactive models demonstrate plate tectonic activity; the Pleistocene section has touchable animals. Youngsters are invited to arrange blocks to complete a story about the life span of the plant-eating ankylosaur. Museum paleontologist Brad Riney was responsible for an exhibit of the most complete ankylosaur skeleton ever found in California.
It took three years and $8 million to design and launch “Fossil Mysteries,” the first permanent exhibit built by the museum in 25 years. The staff consulted with more than 50 scientists worldwide, including geologists from San Diego State University, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
The ancient remains of our region inspire us to imagine how the world looked before we inhabited it, and ponder the events that made some life forms evolve and others extinct. But perhaps its greatest contribution is leading us to consider the future and the fate of mankind.
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