Already in the year of the 25th anniversary of the Royal Tyrrell Museum, thousands have taken in the spectacle of Alberta Unearthed: 25 Years of Discovery.
The celebration exhibit showcases 25 of the most significant specimens of the Royal Tyrrell Museum and the stories behind them.
It has been an exciting year for Dr. Don Brinkman, who has a long history with the museum. He and Dr. Don Henderson were the scientific leads for the exhibition. He is elated by how well the exhibited has been received by visitors. He is also satisfied to see many of the actual specimens on display.
“It is one thing to have them in the collection, but another to have them exhibited,” he said.
A trip through the exhibit is more than a chance to see some rare and significant finds, but it is also in many ways, chapters in the history of the museum. Each specimen has a story behind it, and each is accompanied by a write up of its background.
Brinkman says at first they were worried there would be too much writing in the exhibit, or the stories would be overlooked by the astonishing collection.
“It’s proved to be wildly successful. People are stopping and reading, which is great,” he said. “In this case it is designed to have the human connection.”
Brinkman himself has a connection to many of the exhibits. He fondly remembers what is titled the 'Colossal Block'. When the time came to harvest the Gorgosaurus in a dramatic death pose from Dinosaur Provincial Park, to preserve the specimen intact, they brought with it 10 tons of stone. Even today, he has a twinkle in his eye explaining how well the death pose was preserved.
He also marvels at 'The Granddaddy of Them All', the skull of a horned dinosaur taken from Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park. Older than any other Triceratops known, it was determined to be a new genus.
Scientifically speaking, he says the exhibit called 'Bird Brain', a Troodon braincase, may be the most significant. In examining the braincase of this relatively small and far ranging dinosaur, Currie began to gather more evidence of the relationship between birds and dinosaurs. Shortly thereafter, feathered dinosaurs were discovered in China, and most now believe birds descended from dinosaurs.
The one specimen that dramatically stands out above the rest is 'Black Beauty'. While one of the smallest adult T-rex discovered, the menacing figure hulks over the gallery. Found in the Crowsnest Pass about 30 years ago, it has been around the world, and casts of it appear in a number of museums. Not many dinosaurs have the cache of a T-rex and few specimens are as complete as 'Black Beauty'.
Brinkman says while the exhibit was completed in time for the 25th anniversary of the Tyrrell, he says it will remain at the museum for at least another year for visitors to enjoy. He hopes those who make the trek see more than some interesting specimens, but leave with a sense of their own place in history, time and diversity, and awareness of how ecologically interconnected the world is.
