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Museum of Ancient Wonders Presents Museum of Ancient Wonders presents PALEO The Story of Life 4.6 billion years of fossil history Drawn from the world’s foremost fossil collections, the unprecedented treasury of fossil casts known as PALEO The Story of Life, brings together into one exhibition some of the most exciting finds in the history of paleontology from over a century of worldwide excavations, exhibited as sculptural works of art. Spanning 4.6 billion years in scope, from the earliest invertebrate marine life through the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous dinosaurs to mammals and prehistoric humans, this internationally acclaimed, comprehensive collection dramatically illustrates the awesome story of prehistoric life on Earth. 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. PALEO The Story of Life is proud to include casts of important fossils housed in the following venerable collections UNITED STATES National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution) American Museum of Natural History Carnegie Museum Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County University of California, Berkeley University of California, Los Angeles Brigham Young University University of Texas, Austin University of Nebraska State Museum Harvard University Peabody Museum, Yale University Monroe Community College Page Museum Alf Museum Museum of the Rockies CANADA Royal Ontario Museum Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology National Museum of Natural Science EUROPE AND GREAT BRITAIN Musee de l’Homme University of Bonn Humboldt Museum Bavarian State Institute of Geology and Paleontology Vienna Natural History Museum Swedish Museum of Natural history British Museum of Natural History Royal Scottish museum ASIA ~ AUSTRALIA ~ AND THE MIDDLE EAST Beijing Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology University of Adelaide Geological Survey of Pakistan AFRICA Kenya National Museum South African Museum Transvaal Museum National Museum of Tanzania Cairo Geological Museum National Museum of Ethiopia …and grateful to the following distinguished scientists. ROBERT T. BAKKER LOWELL DINGUS STEPHEN JAY GOULD TOM GRAY JOHN R. HORNER NICHOLAS HOTTON DONALD JOHANSON JOHN KAPPELMAN WANN LANGSTON JAMES H. MADSEN, JR. JOHN MAISEY WADE MILLER WILLIAM R. MUEHLBERGER JOHN OSTROM TIMOTHY ROWE DALE RUSSELL J. WILLIAM SCHOPF SMILJANA MIMA STOJANOVIC PRAISE FOR PALEO The Story of Life “After 65 million years, they’re back. In a BIG way.” BOSTON HERALD “Now underway at the World Trade Center in Boston…the entire story of life on Earth as represented by the fossil record.” THE TAUTON GAZETTE “This fascinating presentation…has educated and enthralled all who have been fortunate enough to view it.” MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR WILLIAM F. WELD “The only exhibit of its kind in the world… Paleomania makes no bones about theatrical approach… when it comes to drama, intrigue and excitement, it’s tough to beat the theater of life.” AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN “A window with a view into the most remote prehistory of man and animals…the unique feature of Paleomania is that the casts are displayed as sculpture…quite different from the paleontological exhibits one usually sees in museums…response from the public continues to be surprise and pleasure from lay people and scientists alike.” HILL COUNTRY LIVING “To see the originals you would have to travel all over the world…an unprecedented collection of dinosaur fossil casts!” DISTINCT MAGAZINE “A new breed of both art and science…it’s amazing to see…” WESTLAKE PICAYUNE “It’s thrilling to see children get an idea of how really big…some of these creatures were…wonderful creations, almost works of art, because that’s what they look like at first glance.” HILL COUNTRY NEWS “Without a doubt, this exhibit provides unmatched educational opportunities for its visitors. Children and adults alike have a unique chance to learn about the history and development of life on our planet, and to place themselves within the awesome scope of that development…a testament to what can be accomplished when the public and private entities work together for the benefit of everyone.” TEXAS GOVERNOR ANN RICHARDS “This collection contains some very important finds which have added tremendously to our knowledge…From June until the Labor Day weekend, 200,000 people visited Atlanta’s Fernbank Museum of Natural History to view the highly acclaimed collection… such a remarkable presentation… so readily accessible.” GEORGIA GOVERNOR ZELL MILLER PALEO The Story of Life 4.6 billion years of fossil history Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392 NASA Hubble photograph) “Whenever I look at a bone, I always see the fingerprints of the god who amused himself with sculpting it.” Pablo Picasso As art sometimes reflects nature, so, in turn, does nature occasionally reflect art. These bones, and teeth, and talons tell a story. A story of living molecules beginning to reproduce themselves in an ancient sea and gradually crawling out onto dry land. A story of dynasties of giant, complex creatures dominating land, sea and sky, descended from the tiniest and simplest of ancestors in an incredible chain of reproduction and diversification. A story of strength, ferocity and gentleness in titanic proportions, in other words, the story of the ingenious adaptability of life in the face of death. For in this struggle we see dramatic evidence of nature’s unrelentingly exploratory forces at work. Viewed as a progression of sculptures, one could say that a distinct style emerges early and gradually refines itself over millions of years, sometimes simple, sometimes quite baroque, and usually astonishingly practical. A story without words, cleft by humankind from stone. THE PRECAMBRIAN ERA warm, shallow, offshore environments from 4.6 billion to 570 million years ago where complex living organisms first arose. During the first 3 billion years of the 1. Kingdom Monera, planet’s existence there was no ozone layer Phylum Cyanophyta in the atmosphere to shield the land from the Collenia versiformis sun’s ultraviolet rays. Life on Earth began Early Precambrian, Minnesota in the dark ocean depths where these rays, destructive to the delicate DNA molecules The oldest known visible structures that are exclusive to living organisms, could produced by living organisms, stromatolites not penetrate. The early self-reproducing (“Cushion Stones”) are the fossilized one-celled organisms, known as remains of slimy mounds or mats formed by prokaryotes, were so primitive that they did the cementing (in distinctive layers) of not possess a distinct cell nucleus. About a calcium carbonate sediments to the filmy, billion years ago, these simple asexual cells gelatinous secretions of cyanobacteria, also gave rise to the more complex eucaryotes known as blue-green algae. Appearing in which possess a cell nucleus along with the the fossil record 2.5 billion years ago, these capacity for sexual reproduction, which primordial colonies of photosynthetic allowed for the exchange of genetic material microorganisms formed great reefs in the and, as a result, evolutionary variability warmer lakes and shallow seas of the between organisms. Precambrian. This sliced cross-section of the 2 billion-year-old stromatolite Collenia As some of these early microorganisms reveals an algae formation twisted by floods began producing oxygen, the oceans and the or volcanic activity. Private collection. atmosphere gradually became abundant with it. A reaction between lightning and the 2. Kingdom Monera, oxygen in the atmosphere slowly produced a Phylum Cyanophyta layer of ozone gas which, in turn, gradually Collenia tubiformis began to filter out enough of the harmful Late Precambrian, Montana ultraviolet rays to permit habitation of the shallower waters and, subsequently, the THE EDIACARA FAUNA land. Scattered throughout the world, the first In Western Australia the fossilized remains isolated communities of multicellular animal of simple microorganisms (such as bacteria) life in the oldest inhabited seas appear to have been found in rocks that are close to have developed around the oxygen enriched 3.5 billion years old. This was the Archean oases of algal colonies from 700 to 600 Era, also known as the Precambrian period, million years ago. Discovered in the which lasted until about 570 million years Ediacara Hills of Southern Australia by Sir ago. The earliest organisms visible to the Reginald Sprigg in 1947 and known as the naked eye did not appear until about 700 Ediacara fauna, these rare Precambrian life million years ago. During the Late forms are the most primitive known. With Precambrian, the formation of cells organized into actual tissue and Gondwanaland united the modern continents equipped with rudimentary vascular of the Southern Hemisphere, providing systems, they probably absorbed oxygen through their skin, tending to prevent their becoming too thickly-tissued, unlike any poisonous stinging cells capable of animals that have succeeded them. paralyzing prey on contact. Among the oldest and most primitive of such creatures Evidence of glaciations and a meteorite are the primordial medusa (or jellyfish) of impact correspond to the disappearance of the Precambrian, whose colorful modern this fauna from the fossil record, separating descendants are virtually unchanged. the
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