The Burke Museum will play host to an extraordinarily diverse Smithsonian Institution exhibit of fossils, 鈥淭he Burgess Shale: Evolution鈥檚 Big Bang,鈥� from Nov. 20 to March 6, 2005.
The small fossils, dating back 500 million years or more, come from a site in Canada鈥檚 Yoho National Park, high in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, and were discovered by the Smithsonian Institution in 1909.
The exhibit explores current theories about the 鈥淐ambrian Explosion鈥� (543 million to 490 million years ago) 鈥� a time when a burst of evolutionary activity generated a sudden increase in the complexity and variety of animal life. The specimens reveal great diversity as well as soft body parts, providing scientists with more detail than typically found in fossils.
The Burke will offer Family Day activities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20, where visitors can create their own creatures, listen to stories about dinosaurs or tour the new exhibit. The museum also is planning a private tour of the Burgess Shale site for Burke patrons in August 2005.