| Arizona is very dry but
much of it was once under water. Both create a good environment for finding
fossils. The Arizona museum has quite a collection of dinosaur models and is
very popular with children. This is a mastodon which browsed on branches
whereas mammoths ate grass. |  |
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The differences can be seen by comparing them with this Columbian Mammoth
which arrived in North America between 1.6 and 1.3 million years ago. |
| This is a pterosaur which
was born able to fly and grew in size afterwards. Birds and bats are not
able to fly at birth and complete most of their growth before flying. |  |
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This is a protoceratops which actually came from Mongolia. Smaller examples
have been found in North America. It is one of the commonest dinosaurs found
in fossil bearing rocks from the cretaceous period. |
| This is an iguanadon from
the same period and again is from Mongolia. But smaller ones are found in
Arizona. |  |
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There are fragments of figures and pottery from all over the South West.
These are from the Teotihuacán classic
period (AD 400-750). |
| Although most of the
figures are small some are much larger stone carvings. This is larger than
life. |  |
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This is a photo of an archaeological mound site in Mesa which dates back to
the Hohokam Indians who did a lot of canal building in the Salt River basin
just east of Phoenix and before the arrival of Europeans. |
| The Hohokam are thought
to have been the most advanced early civilisation in the US dating from 300
BC to 1350 AD. This is a representation of a house in a pit in which they
lived. |  |
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There is a whole wall of pottery types. These are Acoma designs. There are
also examples of Anasazi styles. These were taken up by the Hopi. |
| These are Hohokam bowls
from around 900 AD. |  |
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These are O'odham baskets from the 1900s. They are modern examples of the
bowls which the Hohokam wove a thousand years before. |
| Many minerals are found
in the area. Most of these geodes are of quartz. |  |
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A lot of the museum is aimed at children and there is a pseudo mine with low
lighting to show the candle lighting which was used. |
| There is also part
of the original Tempe jail where you can lock up the kids. |  |
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I preferred the model railway. There were a lot of mineral railways in the
region. |
| An odd item was the
armour typical of that worn by the Spanish invaders who first appeared in
this area. |  |
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Equally interesting is the cow hand. Surprisingly most of the early cowboys
here were free blacks. One wonders how the Texans then banned blacks from
living in the state. Even today there is friction in Arizona with the
original Mexican families who lived here when Mexico ruled the area. |
| One of the most popular
places is the 'gold mine' where you can pan for 'gold', something which
appeals to both young and old. |  |
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