Prehistoric footprint: 'Ancient Life' will showcase New Mexico fossils from millions of years ago

Nov. 14—Origins Hall at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science has closed to make room for a new hall named "Ancient Life."

The new hall, which is expected to open in January, will feature about 300 fossils from the museum's Research Collections that were discovered in New Mexico.

"We began collecting in the 1990s, so we've been collecting toward this exhibit for about 30 years," said Spencer G. Lucas, curator of paleontology at NMMNHS. "We began to work on this exhibit about a year and a half ago. Normally, we would build an exhibit like this in two or three years and we're trying to build it in under two for various reasons."

Lucas said it has been a bit of a time crunch to get the hall completed and added there is plenty to choose from for the collection.

As the curator, Lucas pulled fossils for the hall and would go over each fossil with the exhibit staff and educators.

"We would discuss, 'What are we trying to teach? What's the message? Can the general public understand the fossil?'" he said. "A lot of fossils are incomplete or they're damaged. They're not that easy to understand if you're not trained to study them."

He said he and the team went through this process with each of the fossils to be showcased as part of "Ancient Life."

"By the end of last year, we pretty much had the total roster of objects," Lucas said. "Now, we've modified it. We've eliminated a few, added a few."

Most of the monies used to fund "Ancient Life" came from the state Legislature.

"Because as you may remember, the Legislature had substantial surpluses," Lucas said. "Normally we built exhibits mostly from grant and public donations, but this exhibit is largely built from taxpayer legislative money."

The winding 3,000-square-foot exhibit will take visitors on a journey through different environments. "Ancient Life" will be divided into color schemes that help visitors recognize in what locations the fossils were found millions of years ago — whether it be land, river, sea, jungle or other habitats.

One standout is a rare fossil referred to as the "Godzilla Shark" due to its size, which was about 7 to 8 feet long. The shark had large spines on its dorsal fins that were likely used as a defense mechanism. The Dracopristis (meaning "dragon shark) fossil was found in the Manzano Mountains just southeast of Albuquerque.

"It was the 'Jaws' of its day," Lucas said.

There will be 300 fossils, which include footprints, on display, each found in various parts of New Mexico — Las Cruces, Española and the Manzano Mountains among them.

Replica creatures also will be a part of "Ancient Life," including one of the largest living insects that resembles a centipede with a flat body. Guests also will be able to touch and feel fossil replicas.

Lucas said the mission of "Ancient Life" is to educate New Mexicans about their own natural history.

"This is a big step in my mind," he said. "You're talking about 250 million years of New Mexico history, and when you go through this hall, you're going to learn a lot about them."