Prehistoric Museum
155 East Main Street Price, Utah 84501 Visti us on the web at http://usueastern.edu/museum/ Local (435) 613-5060 Toll Free (800) 817-9949
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October 2018
Raptor Review
Issue 52
A quarterly publication for your information and enjoyment
From the Director By Dr. Ken Capenter
Summer is nearing the end, and soon we will see the annual return of school kids to the museum. We have a large mural featuring the Late Jurassic (150 million years ago) of eastern Utah on one wall and a display of fossil wood that compliments the mural. A hidden game for families with young children is a way to encourage children to find various plants and animals in the mural, some of which are hidden (but not too hard).
Inside This Edition Item Page From the Director Cover Castle Country Cultures 2 Events & Info 3 Secrets from the Vault 3 Gift Shop 3 Exhibits 4 I See Dead Things... 5
Editor/Layout
We have purchased a large collection of trilobites, fossil plants and other Paleozoic (241–541million years old) fossils from Utah. The funds were made available through State Representative Watkins, a great friend of the museum. Most of the fossils will be incorporated in upcoming exhibits (ideas of which are buzzing around in my brain already!). In the next month or so, we will be closing the changing gallery where we hold our art shows so that we can renovate it. The new and improved should be available for the next community art show. If you haven’t been to the museum in the past few months, I invite you to visit. It continues to change. Thanks as always for your membership and support of the museum.
Dave Alderks
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. Gary Straquadine - Interim Chancellor Dr. Ken Carpenter - Director
Another exhibit nearby features dinosaur skulls (see Sandra's report). There was a slight delay to complete exhibits on the Jurassic environment that I mentioned in the last newsletter because of the need for additional specimens. Those are now in hand, so we should finish those exhibits soon.
View of Tim’s dig this summer.
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Castle Country Cultures Dr. Tim Riley
Summer is wrapping up and hopefully the fire season is close behind it. Here in the Hall of Archaeology, we have had a busy couple of months in the field and lab. How many of you have ever noticed the big smoke blackened cave about a mile upstream from the famous Buckhorn Wash pictograph panel? This site has always intrigued me, as it is the largest known rockshelter along the Buckhorn wash and has lots of smoke blackening on its ceiling. The only record for this site is a 3�x5� card from 1954, which indicates clear cultural lenses in the sidewalls of looter pits and recommended further testing to evaluate its potential. I submitted a research design to test this site to assess how intact these lenses were 50+years since they were noted and to, hopefully, recover evidence of the people who made the incredible pictographs right down the road. It was obvious the surface was impacted by historic and current use, with evidence of fire pits and lots of trash accumulation (remember people, pack it out!). I will be presenting some of the results at our upcoming Cocktails with the Curators event for our premium level members (Utahraptor level and above) in October.
views of the Buckhorn Wash Rockshelter tested this summer
This fall, the youth group-focused excavation at Cottonwood Village in Nine Mile Canyon started back up. The goal this year is to fully excavate the pit structure that was started last year. So far, the site continues to yield lots of evidence of bead manufacture, with pieces of fire-treated shale ranging from raw blanks to finished beads. It will be great to have more students back in the lab this winter
following the artifacts they excavated through analysis and curation. I also participated in the 5th annual Nine Mile Canyon Stewardship Day, largely organized by Project Discovery, and with volunteer archaeologists from all over the state. Despite the road closures associated with the Pole Creek fire in Utah County, hundreds of people came out to the canyon to celebrate and learn about its rock art, Fremont villages, and historic homesteads.
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I see dead things..... by Dave Alderks
The summer has come and gone, and autumn is now upon us. With the changing of the seasons comes the time I get to inform you all of the comings and goings in the Paleontology lab. Spence Shale Trilobites I had the opportunity to travel to northern Utah to dig for trilobites in the Spence Shale. This was one of the most fun places I have been able to hunt for fossils; I enjoyed being able to escape the smokey air around the museum and get into such clean, fresh mountain air. During this dig, we were able to add five new species of trilobites to our collection for the upcoming Trilobite exhibit.
Dr. Tim Riley and students from Project Discovery talking to visitors during the Nine Mile Canyon Stewardship Day (Do old timers recognize the visitor on the left?).
Back in the lab, we recently accepted the donation of artifacts and notes compiled from the 1930s-1950s by the Flaim family. While this collection includes many nice and interesting artifacts, the highlights were some of the letters and other documents associated with the exploration of Nine Mile Canyon by Dave Nordell and othSome of the artifacts recovered from ers. These records add Cottonwood Village. much needed context to artifacts that have otherwise lost their cultural associations through collecting. Enjoy the fall weather, and I look forward to seeing many of you at the Member’s Appreciation Dinner in December.
My idea of what the Jurassic pond at the microsite might have looked like.
Upcoming projects The next few months will be busy for me with planned field work in the Vernal, UT area looking for Ichthyosaur fossils from the middle Jurassic Period. I will also be looking for more fossils from the Eocene from around Lake Uinta. In planning for future exhibits, I get to visit an old friend of the Chinle formation looking for any non-plant fossils. If you would like to know more about my field projects or are interested in joining on one of the fields projects, please contact me at 435.613.5756 or by email at dave.alderks@usu.edu. Also, I give regular updates about paleontology here at the museum on the paleo blog www.deathelevated.blogspot.com.
Volunteer Opportunities Types of fossils found in the Spence Shale where I collected.
Morrison Micro Fossil Site The screen washing of the mudstone at this site has been completed, and it has yielded numerous fossils of varying types of faunal material. I have been able to collect several different types of teeth, several vertebrae, small parts of plant-like algae, possible skull material of a lizard, along with scutes of a crocodile, and snails. This has been a learning project and makes me wonder how much microfossil material has been ignored at other paleontological locations.
Volunteers are always welcome here at the museum. We have opportunities in all departments you just need to contact one of the following individuals: Archaeology Tim.riley@usu.edu or 435.613.5280 Collections Katharine.corneli@usu.edu or 435.613.5765 Exhibits Sandra.budd@usu.edu or 435.613.5760 Paleontology dave.alderks@usu.edu or 435.613.5756
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Gift Shop
Events and Info
by Jen Shorthill
by Shai Reiswig
Members keep a look out in your mail and email for special event invitations like our 8th Annual Membership Appreciation Dinner which will be Friday, December 7th. Those of you who have an Allosaurus or Utahraptor membership should have received an invitation to this year’s 3rd Annual Cocktails with the Curator event on October 25th. I will be sending out reminders, so be on the lookout. Members have the fantastic benefit of free admission to the Museum of Moab as well as the John Wesley Powell River History Museum in Green River through a reciprocal membership partnership. 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. A special thank you to the Fleck family for their support with their Allosaurus membership!
Secrets from the Vault by Katy Corneli
Will be back next time. Katy and her husband welcomed a new addition to their family in August. Katy gave birth to a health baby girl Ms. Mazarine Leigh Kotce. Congrats!
Welcome back, students! School is in session, fall is here and Holidays are right around the corner! The Museum has had an incredible Summer! We’ve met some wonderful people, and we’ve loved seeing our members coming for visits! We have some amazing new products in the gift shop! Come in and check them out! Are you a member? Looking for an amazing experience? Then the Prehistoric Museum is the place to be! Come and see the new exhibits so beautifully put together by our wonderful staff! While you’re here, stop by the gift shop!! Renew your membership, get a new one, shop for loved ones and friends from our selection of unique gifts and say “Hello” to our clerks! They are always happy to help you! We would like to give a shout-out to our members and all who visit us! It’s because of you that we remain successful! Thank you for your patronage!
Exhibitions
by Sandra Budd
Greetings from Exhibitions, The Ancient Skies through Ancient Eyes Exhibition in the Special Exhibitions Gallery brought many visitors into the museum through the summer. This exhibit received positive visitor response as well as good artwork sales, which go to support future exhibits in the gallery. Gallery renovations are scheduled to begin over the winter. The community art exhibition The Other Side of Utah will be postponed until renovations to the gallery are completed. Upgrades to the Paleontology Hall A new exhibit case has been installed that illustrates the differences between dinosaur teeth. Touchable scale models of several dinosaur skulls and teeth were produced. We hope this provides a more friendly and accessible display.
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Helper Arts Festival Participation Shai, Dave and I are participated in the Helper Arts Festival this August with a new kid’s activity. Nearly 100 dinosaurs and Fremont sock puppets were made by our participants. It was wonderful to see the attention many of the children put into their creations.
Personal milestone I was privileged to have my illustration work selected for the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators 50th anniversary juried exhibition and conference this summer.
The exhibit was hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC. Special Exhibitions Gallery Schedule 2018 Gallery Renovation through winter 2018 Please reach out to me with any questions regarding exhibitions. sandra.budd@usu.edu or 435.613.5760.
Array of models sculpted and cast for display