Arizona Museum of Natural History
The only natural history museum in the greater Phoenix area.
In Mesa, Arizona, this museum—once called the Mesa Southwest Museum—stands as the sole natural history museum serving the greater Phoenix area. Its exhibits explore the Southwest's natural and cultural heritage.
Quick Facts
- Established
- 1977
- Location
- Mesa, Arizona, United States
Facts from the source article.
History
The Mesa Southwest Museum began in 1977 as a small museum in Mesa City Hall, a building designed by Lescher & Mahoney and built in 1937 with WPA funds. Expansions occurred in 1983, 1987, and a new wing was added in 2000. A research facility was added in 1995. The museum was renamed the Arizona Museum of Natural History in 2007.
Exhibitions
The Arizona Museum of Natural History centers on Dinosaur Mountain, a three-story indoor waterfall with animatronic dinosaurs and a flash flood show that occurs every half hour. Beyond this, visitors find Dinosaur Hall, an actual territorial jail, and a replica of the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. The Southwest Gallery features exhibits on Paleoindian big game hunters and gatherers, the earliest North American inhabitants, and later desert cultures, plus a recreated Hohokam village with pithouses and above-ground structures from A.D. 600–1450, filled with genuine artifacts. Other permanent displays include Ancient Cultures of Mexico and the Origins gallery, a cosmic timeline covering major Earth history events. Hands-on areas include an Exploration Station and the Paleo Dig Pit. Three temporary galleries rotate subjects. One past exhibition, "Rulers of the Prehistoric Skies," examined flight evolution from insects to birds and bats, focusing on pterosaurs—the first flying vertebrates, whose flight mechanics remain debated among paleontologists. That exhibit featured a 4-foot mechanical pterosaur called "Clam Digger" and a life-size Pteranodon sternbergi model. It opened February 4, 2012, and ran for about four years due to its popularity. Pterosaur models still appear throughout the museum.
Paleontology
The Paleontology Section is the primary emphasis of the Natural History Section. It explores, excavates, records, prepares, conserves, and researches fossil resources. The museum is an official repository for specimens from State, BLM, National Forest, and Fish and Wildlife lands in Arizona. Dinosaur Hall contains an unnamed coelurosaur nicknamed the "Zuni coelurosaur", a Tarbosaurus skeleton, a Tyrannosaurus rex skull, a Gastornis, a Camarasaurus skeleton, an Apatosaurus femur, and various ceratopsians including Psittacosaurus, Zuniceratops, Protoceratops, Pentaceratops, and Triceratops, as well as a Probactrosaurus.
Archeology/Anthropology
The museum's anthropology team studies southern Arizona's archaeology and Native American cultures, creating exhibits from this work. Since 1977, archaeology has been central. The museum directs ongoing digs at Mesa Grande Ruin, a Hohokam Classic Period mound.
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