Est. June 3, 1961
Experience Life Three Billion Years In The Making July 2017
Raptor Review
Issue 47
A quarterly publication for your information and enjoyment From the Director By Dr. Ken Carpenter
The most exciting new exhibit in the museum is Clubs, Horns, and Shields now showing in the changing exhibits gallery. The exhibit centers around the various types of body armor that prehistoric animals had. It also features a whimsical reconstruction of an ancient porcupine fish helmet once worn by warriors on the Gilbert Islands in the South Pacific. I am sure the wearer could be smelled long before they were seen! This past quarter has been geared towards continuing the Five Kivas exhibit, which will be the largest and most expensive exhibit this museum has undertaken in a long time. The reconstructed room is nearing completion. Once done it will give visitors a flavor of what life was like in a cliff dwelling. Pictures of the construction have been posted on the museum’s Facebook page. There are still two exhibit cases that need to be filled to complete the story. The Gooseneck Allosaurus is now on display pretty much as it was found. By the time this newsletter comes out, the accompanying labels should be installed. Thanks to everyone Five Kivas exhibit currently under construction by the pithouse and the who was involved in tepee. its excavation. The museum’s webpage is getting a major overhaul, thanks to Tracey Johnson. The old software is no longer supported and the university would like for us to look a little more like what they have elsewhere. I choose the USU botanical garden website as a model. I hope you like the new look.
There, you will find the latest version of the museum’s policies and procedures manual. I thank all of you for your membership and support of the museum. Watch for all the continuing changes the rest of the year. For the museum’s Utahraptor and Allosaurus-lev“Gooseneck” Allosarus fnished and el memberships, please on display in the dinosaur pit. join me at the second annual Cocktails with the Curator in October. Ever wonder how paleontologists know what dinosaurs were really like? There is so much hype about dinosaurs that it is hard to separate fact from fiction. Join me as I use a distant cousin of Tyrannosaurus, called Acrocanthosaurus, to show how paleontologists know what they know about dinosaurs. If you are not yet a Utahraptor or Allosaurus level member, I hope you will consider joining. It is an excellent way to get exclusive perks, as well as support your museum.
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Castle Country Cultures By Dr. Tim Riley
Greetings from the Hall of Archaeology! As the cooler fall weather infiltrates Castle Country, our field season continues. I am putting the final excavation units into the Martinez Pithouse this fall. As I shared with those of you who made it out for the annual museum member’s field trip, I have learned a lot about the construction and abandonment practices of the Fremont through this excavation. I enjoyed sharing this site, along with others along Grassy Trail Creek, on the field trip. The highlight for many of the participants was the discovery of this vast rock art panel, hidden in plain view right outside of East Carbon. I have just started an excavation in Nine Mile Canyon with our colleagues from Montgomery Archaeology and the BLM-Price field office. This project, located at CottonThe Fremont carved this 3 ft tall petroglyph around a thousand wood Village near years ago. (The photograph has the Great Hunt been digitally manipulated for panel, exposes local visibility.) school groups to the process of excavation and the role it plays in understanding the past. I also participated in the annual Nine Mile Canyon Stewardship Day organized by Project Discovery. This event brings professional archaeologists, as well as college and highschool students, from across the state into the canyon to act as guides and interpreters at a dozen sites throughout the canyon. The exhibit suite for the Ancestral Puebloan is coming on nicely, with lots of hard work from Sandra and Ken. The life-size room block reconstruction is almost finished and it looks great. Now we are on to finishing up the artifact cases that will be embedded in the walls of the structure. We are very excited to complete this exhibit so we can share it with all of you.
Overhead shot of the Ancestral Puebloan room block, situated alongside the Fremont pithouse and Ute tepee.
Artifacts of the Season While I normally like to highlight something stored in our collections, this season’s artifacts are on display and a highlight of the Hall of Archaeology, the Clarence Pilling figurines. Recently, colleagues from Weber State University and Brigham Young University re-examined these artifacts for both stylistic and technical data. In addition to using a technique called portable X-Ray Fluorescence to source, the clays and pigments of the figurines, BYU graduate student Robert Bischoff made 3D models using a technique called photogrammetry. Check them out at the link below! https://sketchfab.com/rbischoff/collections/pilling-figurines Events & Information By Shailetia Reiswig
The 7th Annual Membership Appreciation Dinner will take place Friday, December 1st in the SouthHall of the CIB (Central Instruction Building) on USU Eastern’s Price Campus. This year Dr. Tim Riley will be giving a presentation, so please if you would like to meet the museum staff and eat delicious food, join us! Please RSVP by 5:00 pm Friday, November 17th by phone (435) 613-5755, email shai.reiswig@usu.edu, or post to 155 East Main Street, Price, Utah 84501, with your RSVP. I will be sending out reminders via email so please be on the lookout, as we will have more events to come.
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Your Prehistoric Museum membership allows you access to three museums for the price of one! Simply show your valid Prehistoric Museum membership card to enter either the Museum of Moab or the John Wesley Powell River History Museum at no charge. What a wonderful way to explore the exciting history of eastern Utah. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about your membership, please do not hesitate to contact Shai Reiswig. Secrets from the Vault by Katy Corneli
Summer is winding down in Price, but here in collections the fun never ends. I have been carrying on with a collection-wide inventory and clean-up in Paleontology. I’m happy to say that about 90% of the collection has now been assessed and cataloged. Once again I had lots of help from volunteers with the Western Interior Paleontological Society (WIPS), notably Tom Nolan and Angie Matthias, who came out for a short but very productive visit in August. Thank you, both! Earlier this month, while sorting through the thousands of specimens and casts in Paleontology, I came across some pieces of slate that looked like they had extensive pencil marks on them but I couldn’t see any fossils. Graptolites found in the collection (The paleontolo- that I took as “pencil marks.” gists among you will forgive me I hope, remember, my background is in archaeology and museum collections). These “pencil marks”
turn out to be the remains of graptolites! In fact, the word graptolite means “written on rock” precisely because of their pencil-mark appearance.Not the most visually stunning fossil perhaps but interesting nonetheless. These tiny animals lived in the sea between 490379 million years ago. They shared a skeleton with each animal building its living chamber branching off. Some were straight; some were spiral-shaped or curved. Their fossils can be used to estimate the sea depth and water temperature while they were living. They are important to geologists too. Graptolites evolved so quickly that the species found in one layer of rock may be different than those in the layer below it. Thus they can be used for dating geologic strata. Kind of cool huh? Now you have some fun information to share with your in-laws over the upcoming holiday season. Enjoy your autumn! Gift Shop By Jennifer Shorthill
Greetings from the Gift Shop! We hope your year has been going well. We know how fast it is moving and we hope you are keeping up! School is in session and parents have smiles on their faces, again! We are so grateful for all of you, taking the time to come and visit our beautiful Museum and gift shop! We cannot express this gratitude enough! Come and check us out for all your gift-giving needs. Bring a friend or two! Have you renewed your membership? Do you need a membership? We are here to help you with these things!! Remember.....Tan lines fade but, memories are forever!! Can you dig it? Keep the memories alive and continue to have a wonderful year! Thank you for your patronage!
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New T-Shirts in the gift shop, with a new layout.
New layout of the books, with new ones coming soon.
Exhibits by Sandra Budd
Special Exhibits Gallery Our special exhibit Clubs, Horns, and Shields has been extended through January 15, 2018, due to its popularity. There will be a gallery renovation before opening the community art exhibition in February 2018. Members Collection Over the summer museum member, Jan Schoch and her grandson Truscott Hillman stopped by exhibits to show me Sandra and Truscott mounting insects Truscott’s insect in his collection. collection. He had a beautifully pinned (wings spread) Grasshopper and some giant-size beetles from his yard, but no labels and some insects needed a little help on the pin mount technique. We anesthetized, mounted, and labeled several insects he brought with him. Truscott returned in a few weeks with an expanded collection properly pinned and
labeled. A truly budding entomologist. I wanted to help Truscott prepare his specimens for longevity. Different objects require different techniques and materials to store properly long term. Collections also require a record of where each object or specimen is found and a proper species label. This is what makes it useful to science. By properly pinning and labeling his specimens Truscottls collection of Truscott’s collection will last insects properly pinned and longer. The data will also be labeled. useful in his future studies and for others who might be studying any aspect of entomology. Exhibit Volunteers I have been working on the Five Kiva rock and wall treatment over the past few months. It has been a very labor intensive project having used close to 1000lbs of hydrocal plaster. I, fortunately, had three volunteers from BLM-CLDQ internship program, which participated in creating major components for the Kiva. I would like to acknowledge Katya Waters from New Jersey who helped lay the foundation screen and walkway. Harris Boekenheide also from New Jersey, who assisted in carving the cliff rock overhang, and Hunter Manlove from Missouri who assisted in plaster work and mural painting. Lastly big thanks to Mike Lechin who helped coordinate their time here. Please contact me regarding any exhibits. Sandra.budd@usu.edu or 435.613.5760.
BLM intern volunteers in order of apperance in article.
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I see dead things.... by Dave Alderks
This quarter I have been busy with several activities at the Museum. In August the museum had a booth in the children's area of the Helper Arts Festival with several activities for the children including the following activities: rubbings of rock art, and fossils, making casts of several fossils and archaeological artifacts. These activities were a big hit with parents and kids, but are not parents just big kids? The Helper Arts Festival has invited us back next year so look for us there. The second project I have been working on the Gooseneck Allosaurus fragilis that were found several years ago. The Allosaurus was placed in plaster and once the plaster was cured the whole exhibit was lifted into place and secured with the help of Ken and Tyler. The exhibit background was then painted to match the original rock that the Allosaurus was located in. Finally the frame of the exhibit and the silhouette of the missing bones was panted, and a simple mural of Jurassic plants will be added to the back of the exhibit. The exhibit will also be getting signs soon, hopefully before the end of the month.
working on identifying and cleaning trilobites for the upcoming Cambrian exhibit. We have quite the collection of trilobites, and also many growth series of different trilobites. The new Cambrian display should be an excellent presentation. Fossil of the quarter
Menomonia sp. one of the many trilobites collected and being readied for the This quarter I am highlighting Cambrian Exhibit one of the fossils on display in
the temporary gallery. This specimen is a crocodile that lived during the Cretaceous Period in Utah. Deinosuchus was one of the largest crocodiles ever to live on Earth and apply lives up to it names meaning “terrible crocodile”. Just glad we only find them today as fossils.
Deinosuchus on display in the temporary exhibit.
Volunteer opportunities
Ken lifting the ”Gooseneck” Allosaurus into position.
Other projects for this quarter have included working on assembling an Eocene Turtle that I collected this year in the Uinta Basin when it is finished it will only be missing the head, I believe the rest was collected. This is an intermediate turtle between the true tortoise and river turtles. I have also been
Volunteers are always welcome here at the museum, and we will even take you into the field in Archaeology and Paleontology. You could be working on one of our cool projects. To volunteer, please contact one of us from the information below: Archaeology Tim.riley@usu.edu or 435.613.5280 Collections Katharine.Corneli@usu.edu or 435.613.5765 Paleontology Dave.alderks@usu.edu or 435.613.5756 Exhibits Sandra.budd@usu.edu or 435-613.5760
Prehistoric Museum 155 East Main Street Price, Utah 84501 Visit us on the web at usueastern.edu/museum Local (435) 613-5060 Toll Free (800) 817-9949
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Inside This Edition
Editor/Layout Dave O. Alderks
Item From The Director Castle Country Cultures Events & Info Secrets from the Vault Gift Shop Exhibits I see dead things...
Page Cover 2 2 3 3 4 5
Advisory Board Ken Fleck-Chairman Tim Gwyther-Vice Chairman Mike Leschin Charles Semborski Maurine Tanner Mark Bunnell Andrew Urbanik Bruce Burgess Dennis Willis Terry Willis - Ex- Officio Advisor Brad King Don Burge-Founding Director Dr. Joe Peterson-Chancellor USU Eastern Dr. Kenneth Carpenter-Museum Director