TimeTracks
The Museum has eight permanent exhibit halls that take visitors on a journey through time we refer to as "Timetracks" providing snapshots of New Mexico from the formation of the universe to the present day. These permanent exhibits take you on your Journey Through Time in this order:
(Paleozoic, 12 billion years ago to 250 million years ago) -- This exhibit hall explores the formation of the Universe more than 12 billion years ago, including sections on "Earth's Oldest Rocks" and "Earth's First Life" as well as presenting fossils from the Paleozoic of New Mexico.
(Triassic, 251-202 million years ago), the "Dawn of the Dinosaurs" when Coelophysis (right), New Mexico's official state fossil, roamed the earth. This latest addition to the Museum's Journey through Time opened May 17, 2008.
(Jurassic, 202 million years ago to 144 million years ago)
Come see two super giant dinosaurs locked in mortal combat as Seismosaurus (the longest land animal that ever lived) and Saurophaganax (the largest Jurassic meat-eating dinosaur) once again roam New Mexico!
(Above) by Steve Larese of New Mexico Magazine
"The Ambush" painting by Mary Sundstrom & Matt Celeskey
(Cretaceous, 144 million years ago to 66 million years ago)
––This recently expanded and upgraded hall reopened in 2003. It features a time when most of New Mexico was covered by an inland sea and urges you to consider "What was New Mexico like 75 million years ago?"
The exhibit features a living tropical forest and fossils of marine animals, strange birds, early mammals, and dinosaurs. The dinosaur fossils include a jawbone with teeth from a T. rex, a partial skeleton of the tyrannosaur Daspletosaurus, and skulls of many other dinosaurs, including Parasaurolophus, Naashoibitosaurus, Sphaerotholus, and a tyrannosaur known as "The Bisti Beast."
Volcanoes have always been an important part of the geological story in New Mexico. In this hall you can walk through an active volcano in this exhibit that lets you feel the heat, see the lava, and smell the sulphur. You'll also see minerals created by volcanoes.
(Tertiary, 66 million years ago to 1.6 million years ago)
The Tertiary Hall explains the evolution of mammals and grasses and has several colorful murals to explore. Specimens on display include the tracks of camels and a sabre-toothed cat as well as fossil elephant skulls and jaws.
Particularly impressive is a skeleton of one of the largest birds ever, New Mexican native Diatryma.
This realistic hall has you move from a "dry" cave with fossil mammals to a damp cave similar to Carlsbad Caverns where you learn about its present inhabitants, formations, and unusual minerals. Hint: Keep an eye out for sleeping bats on the ceiling.
(Pleistocene, 1.6 million years ago to 10,000 years ago) –– Discover dire wolves, mammoths, saber-tooth cats, and New Mexico's last camel in a colorful exhibit that portrays the landscape and organic evolution of New Mexico from the Ice Ages to the Present.
