Arizona Museum of Natural History - Exhibitions

Exhibitions

The Museum's exhibitions include a three-story indoor waterfall, a real territorial jail, and a recreation of the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. The Southwest Gallery consists of a native peoples’ gallery, with exhibits about Paleoindian big game hunters and gatherers, the first inhabitants of North America, and the Desert Cultures that developed later. It also holds a recreation of a Hohokam village, with pithouses and above-ground structures, outfitted with real artifacts as they might have been from about A.D. 600-1450. Another exhibit is the Ancient Cultures of Mexico. The Origins gallery is designed as a voyage through the timeline of the cosmos and discusses major events in the history of planet Earth.

Among the exhibitions is a hands-on Exploration Station and the Paleo Dig Pit.

Three changing exhibition galleries offer a variety of subjects.

The evolution of flight—was it from the ground-up or from the tree down? AzMNH’s newest exhibition, "Rulers of the Prehistoric Skies," should help answer that question.

At no other time in the history of life on Earth were there animals like the pterosaurs, those flying creatures who truly did rule the sky. They were the first vertebrates to achieve flight, and they did it in a way that was all their own. In addition to very distinctly shaped, thin, hollow bones, pterosaurs had membranous wings which were probably flexible and able to change shape during flight. The actual mechanical details are not completely understood by paleontologists, thus giving rise to multiple opinions.

The main goal of this exhibit is to have visitors understand the amazing diversity among Pterosaurs. Exhibit volunteers have helped to achieve this goal by building everything from “rock blocks” and puzzles, to actual models of the fliers themselves. Don Puffer has created a 4-foot mechanical Dsungaripterous pterosaur also known as “Clam Digger” that will demonstrate the opening and closing of its wings. Ed Mack’s sculpture Pteranodon sternbergi is a stunning life-size model that should amaze the museum audience.

"Rulers of the Prehistoric Skies" is part of a Mesa Arts and Culture First Flight initiative and will focus on flying reptiles; however the exhibit also explores the evolution of flight from insects, the true first flyers, to birds and bats.

The "Rulers of the Prehistoric Skies" exhibit opened on February 4, 2012, and will run for approximately one year.

Another of the changing exhibits is "The Primal Desert Next Door: Land of Black Volcanoes and White Sands," which opened February 26, 2011. Much of the Sonoran Desert lies south of the Arizona border in Mexico. This vast expanse and its diverse wildlife is the focus of this exhibition, which includes wall murals depicting the vast contrasting dark “moon-scape” volcanic fields and bright seas of sand dunes. Visitors can learn about the geology, flora, and fauna of this region though photographs and interactive components. The exhibition is based on the book Land of Black Volcanoes and White Sands, The Pinacate and Gran Desierto De Altar Biosphere Reserve, by Larry Marshall and Clark Blake. Interactive features include a dune machine, which replicates the phenomena of sand dunes, a hands-on basin and range topography display, and a mock lava tube, which children can climb through.

These exhibitions are made possible, in large part, by private donations to the Arizona Museum of Natural History Foundation, the Museum’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Additionally, the museum maintains the Sirrine House, a Queen Anne style home built in Mesa in 1896. The museum claims that the home is the only fully restored Victorian-era home museum. The Sirrine House is currently open only for special events.