South Carolina Fossil Exhibit to Open at the State Museum on June 28

A variety of specimens will be displayed from museum’s nationally-known fossil collection in SC Unearthed                                               

COLUMBIA, SC –  The South Carolina State Museum will open a new natural history exhibit,South Carolina Unearthed, on Saturday, June 28.  The temporary exhibit will showcase a variety of specimens from the museum’s extensive and nationally-known fossil collection representing animals that once inhabited South Carolina.

Guests will see the fossilized remains of many ancient animals and learn about the variety of life that inhabited the land we now know as South Carolina. The exhibit will travel back millions of years ago when huge ground sloths, long-horned buffalo and ferocious saber-toothed cats roamed the region. Guests visiting will learn that whales swam over what is now Summerville and that huge marine lizards lurked in the ocean that once covered Darlington County.

“This may sound like science fiction, but these fossils have actually been found right beneath our feet in South Carolina,” said Dave Cicimurri, curator of natural history.  “We hope this exhibit will give our guests a better understanding of how our piece of the world has changed over millions of years.”

The exhibit will also feature some of the museum’s collection of bird eggs, insects, shark and ray jaws, seashells and more. It will discuss how the biological record is interpreted and where fossils have been found across South Carolina.

The State Museum’s natural history collection contains three major components: biology, geology and paleontology and documents the history of life in South Carolina. The range of the collection includes strange arthropods that are more than 500 million years old, 70-million-year-old dinosaur bones, 40-million-year-old whales, 20-million-year-oldshark teeth, 400,000-year-old bones from the “Ice Age,” and a host of taxidermy mounts of animals that currently inhabit the state.

South Carolina Unearthed will be open until February 1, 2015 and is included with museum general admission or membership. Visit scmuseum.org/exhibits to learn more.

About the South Carolina State Museum

On Oct. 29, 1988, the South Carolina State Museum opened its doors, bringing to the citizens of the Palmetto State the newest, and one of the finest, state museums in America. The Museum has four large floors devoted to the disciplines of art, history, natural history and science/technology. It houses both long-term exhibits and five changing exhibit galleries. For more information about the museum, visitscsmuseum.org or follow @SCStateMuseum on Twitter.