A new exhibit featuring dinosaur fossils is on display in the Delaney Library in the Center of Southwest Studies.
Dinosaurs! was researched, curated and built as a part of a capstone project for adjunct professor of geosciences, Jon Powell’s paleontology class, Powell said.
The exhibit attempts to show what Southwest Colorado was like millions of years ago before the Ice Age, he said.
Colorado really was the jurassic park they talk about in the movies, Powell said. Most of the dinosaur fossils on display are from Colorado, he said.
The Animas Valley was carved out by a glacier, but before that Durango was under water, Powell said. There is evidence of this Cambrian period in the granite rocks near Baker’s Bridge, he said.
The exhibit then shows fossils from the Jurassic period, which is when the big dinosaurs start showing up, he said.
The display ends with the Ice Age, showing sabertooth tigers and woolly mammoths.
Dinosaurs! is not the only new display at the Center of Southwest Studies. Recent installations in the Center’s museum include Ben Nighthorse Campbell: Colorado’s Renaissance Man and Treasures of the Southwest.
Colorado's’ Renaissance Man shows furniture from Campbell’s office, Elizabeth Quinn, Collections Manager, said. Campbell is a former United States Senator from Colorado and the namesake of the Campbell Child and Family Center on campus.
Treasures of the Southwest is a textile and fine art display including textiles from the Durango Collection, Quinn said. The Durango Collection, sourced from multiple donors and donated to Fort Lewis College, features Pueblo, Navajo and Hispanic textiles, she said.
Both museum exhibits will be semi permanent, she said. The subject will continue to be about Campbell and the Durango Collection, but the topics discussed will vary.