Limiting ourselves to just one day at first we invited numerous collectors and other organizations along to show their finds to the public. The museum has been attending a similar event in Lyme Regis for some years now and thought it was about time to have a go at organizing something similar on the Island. Thus was advertized our first real fossil day nine years after we first opened in our new building. " Fossils, prehistoric finds and other ancient artefacts collected from the Isle of Wight, Solent area and beyond.Ī day of exhibits and activities for all the family.įrom flint axe heads to dinosaur bones, to the smallest of fossil insects.įREE ENTRY TO THE MUSEUM ON THE DAY. Students and staff from the Natural History Museum were on the Island for field-work and brought along some of the fossils they had found. Students from the University of Portsmouth also brought over a selection of fossils and discussed their research with our visitors. here we see Paula New and Val Munt with a student from the Natural History Museum, holding a mould for an ammonite. Our Education Room was used for a number of activities including plaster casting replica fossils. Pictured below are a selection of photographs from the day. We thank all those who came together to make such a great day and look forward to the possibility of running an extended version next year. Exhibits ranged from ammonites to dinosaur bones, roman coins and military badges found by metal-detecting, and we even had a real live roman soldier in the building.Ĭhildren’s activities were provided as well, including face-painting, model making and sorting thousands of microfossils. Presented by local collectors, societies, Portsmouth University, the Natural History Museum, Island Heritage Service and other luminaries the public were given the opportunity to ask enquiring questions and celebrate some of the rich heritage that goes to make our Island and surrounding area so culturally fascinating.
‘Blast from the Past’, our local Fossil Day, was so popular that we welcomed 930 visitors to see displays of local palaeontology, archaeology and natural history. Saturday the twelfth has been the busiest day of November so far. Look carefully and you may also find the odd bat, castle, church, horse and even a car ferry. Children (and adults) get the opportunity to make their own ancient creature to add to the map (here hidden by models). Joy Verrinder from the Island Heritage Service is pictured here adding to our model 'Dinosaur Island'. Children's activities and fossil walks were provided, and numerous children went away with dinosaur face-paint. It was good to see so many of our past exhibitors return, along with some new ones.
DINOSAUR ISLAND 1984 FOR FREE
Once again we provided a weekend of activities where the public could come along for free and see fossils and other antiquities from the Isle of Wight and southern England. We thought you might like to know about some of the things we have done in recent years. We have a very busy calendar, especially with schools, during which we like to put on a number of larger events, including exhibitions and longer activity-driven weeks. Included below is a very small selection of the events that happen at Dinosaur Isle each year.