The Prehistoric Museum, USU-Eastern, formerly known as the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum, is a museum accredited by the

American Alliance of Museums American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

located in

Price A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good" in the ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. The museum seeks to promote public understanding of prehistory through interpretive exhibits, educational programs, collections, and research. The museum is located near many paleontological and archaeological sites in a region known as Castle Country, notably in the

San Rafael Swell The San Rafael Swell is a large geologic feature located in south-central Utah, United States about west of Green River. The San Rafael Swell, measuring approximately , consists of a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limesto ...

and nearby canyons throughout the

Book Cliffs The Book Cliffs are a series of desert mountains and cliffs in western Colorado and eastern Utah in the western United States. They are so named because the cliffs of Cretaceous sandstone that cap many of the south-facing buttes appear similar ...

area such as

Nine Mile Canyon Ninemile Canyon (also Nine Mile Canyon) is a canyon, approximately long, located in Carbon and Duchesne counties in eastern Utah, United States. Promoted as "the world's longest art gallery", the canyon is known for its extensive rock art, most ...

and Range Creek Canyon.

History

The Prehistoric Museum was established in 1961 as a cooperative effort by the former

College of Eastern Utah Utah State University Eastern (USU Eastern) is a public regional college within the Utah State Universitybr>system The USU Eastern campus is located in Price, Utah, United States. Founded as Carbon College in 1937, the college joined the Universi ...

and the community of Price. On May 8, 1961, the Board of Regents established the museum. At that time, funding for the museum was supplied by the geology department at the college. The museum officially opened to the public on June 3, 1961, on the second floor of the Price Municipal Building in a small converted conference room. After expanding into the hallways of the City Hall it moved into the old city gymnasium in 1971. In later years, the museum became an appropriated line item through the State of Utah. In 1990-91, the appropriation for the museum was greatly increased because of the tremendous expansion of the museum. A new addition was opened, later to become the Hall of Dinosaurs. Through these two separate expansions during its 45-year history, the museum has become a facility with another repository and paleontology preparation laboratory. An ongoing program of paleontology fieldwork and excavation begun in 1990 has produced 12 new species of dinosaurs and over 7,000 paleontologic specimens. Federal and state accreditation followed in 1991, allowing the museum to reposit collections from across Utah. Renewed interest in dinosaurs and a popular culture boom brought thousands more visitors down the Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway and to the museum in the 1990s. New development in Utah and the renaissance in dinosaur research has resulted in new finds and an increased level of interest in the museum. The museum now serves as an important repository housing over 750,000 prehistoric specimens from around the state.

Features

The museum's national accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums distinguishes it as fewer than 10% of museums are awarded such accreditation. As a state and federal repository for both paleontological and archaeological collections, the museum's holdings include more than 700,000 archaeological artifacts, comprising one of the largest and most significant collections in the country. Many of these artifacts, such as those left by the indigenous

Fremont people The Fremont culture or Fremont people is a pre-Columbian archaeological culture which received its name from the Fremont River in the U.S. state of Utah, where the culture's sites were discovered by local indigenous peoples like the Navajo and ...

, have become world-renowned. The museum's paleontological collection includes type specimens and fossil finds new to science. The collections and exhibits focus on specimens indigenous to the region and include: * Fremont culture exhibits, such as rock art reproductions and the famous Pilling Figurines * Comprehensive display of Utah's Ice Age ecology and Paleoindian presence * The Huntington Mammoth, best-known and one of the best-kept of all fossil elephants * ''

Utahraptor ''Utahraptor'' (meaning "Utah's thief") is a genus of large dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in North America during the Early Cretaceous period. It was a heavy-built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore. It contains a single species, ''Utah ...

'' and a dozen other new dinosaurs, several percent of the known global diversity

Exhibitions

Exhibitions at the museum have included: * The emphasis of the exhibitry is the prehistory of eastern Utah. There are two galleries, one that features paleontology and geology, and the other that features archaeology. Both galleries utilize fossils and artifacts from the region. *''The Other Side of Utah'' - an annual exhibit that opened in 2006, it presents art that reflects the Utah area. * Rock art exhibit - including a restored

pictograph A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and g ...

panel from Horseshoe Canyon in Canyonlands National Park.

External links

CEU Prehistoric MuseumCollege of Eastern UtahUtah's Castle Country

References

{{authority control Dinosaur museums in the United States Natural history museums in Utah University museums in Utah Museums in Carbon County, Utah Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums Utah State University 1961 establishments in Utah Paleontology in Utah

History

Features

Exhibitions

See also

External links

References