A time before us!

What makes fossils so special? Fossils provide evidence that there was life on earth before humans, and this year, the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution – based in Queen Square – is displaying a selection of the best from the depths of our amazing collections.

 Petrification is BRLSI’s latest exhibition, and in it, you will discover fossils from across 505 million years of the history of life. The BRLSI’s earliest fossil is a trilobite from the Cambrian geological period!

The exhibition begins by encouraging visitors to follow a Deep Timeline, starting out at a meteorite which represents the formation of both the Solar system and planet Earth 4.567 billion years ago!

Crossing the gallery, the timeline leads visitors through the Precambrian era, when only single-celled life existed, all the way through to the Cambrian Explosion of life. The final 9th of the timeline, which is depicted in a scale running up the wall of the gallery, is where all the palaeontologic action happens.

This is where visitors get to experience trilobites and corals, dinosaurs, marine reptiles, mammoths and cave bears! Colour-coded exhibits in the room correspond to the timeline so that visitors always know where in Deep Time they are.

Come to BRLSI and discover the beautiful complexity of prehistoric life and Bath’s influential role in the birth of palaeontology.

Features of ‘Petrification’
In the exhibition space, among vibrant displays of fossils, the visitor can discover:

 The Carboniferous swampy forests, with giant clubmosses and tree ferns from coal mines of nearby Radstock (and the toothy-jaw of a 5-metre fish from the same period).

 Curious creatures from After the Great Dying, Triassic animals represent the recovery from a catastrophic extinction much worse than that which ended the dinosaurs.

 A Jurassic miscellany of fossils from the southwest, including ammonites, lobsters, cycads, and starfish.

 Saurians of the Sea, the remains of Jurassic marine reptiles from when Britain was covered by a shallow sub-tropical sea. Baby crocodiles, giant ichthyosaurs, freshwater turtles, and a titanic plesiosaur paddle covered in gruesome bite marks.

 Model reconstructions of Megalosaurus and Iguanodon from 1850, British dinosaurs named 200 years ago, contrasted with modern reconstructions of the prehistoric world by world-renowned palaeoartist Bob Nicholls, designer of the recent Royal Mint coins featuring dinosaurs.

 The creatures of the British Steppe and Savanna were mammals that lived in the South-West during the ice ages, including a mammoth femur from Box, a dolphin skull from Twerton, and a baby mammoth milk-tooth from Wookey Hole.

Learn about:

 How views about fossils have changed over history.

 The wonderful eccentrics who studied fossils in Bath and beyond.

 How we know how old the earth is.

 Modern scientific techniques are being applied to fossils in BRLSI’s wonderful collection today, revealing new wonders about prehistoric life.

What’s more, family activities are available throughout the exhibition. Two brand new BRLSI characters, Tom and Aisha, act as guides to younger visitors exploring ‘Petrification’, and illuminate them on everything they need to know.

If you haven’t met Aisha and Tom yet, they feature in a newly created BRLSI comic helping younger visitors to understand that our knowledge of fossils is growing all the time.

Aisha and Tom throw down a challenge to children to discover the next chapter in the story for themselves.

In a new addition to the BRLSI offering, school and community groups can book an exhibition tour with an optional Mary Anning workshop. Some facts and future fun for families visiting Petrification:

 Children will be amazed at the depths of time as they explore our huge geological timeline.

 Cartoon characters Aisha and Tom invite youngsters to take a journey around the local area to see where some of the fossils on display come from In addition to all of this, Tom and Aisha have some very exciting information about plants too.

Whether big or small, be sure to visit BRLSI’s brand new exhibition, Petrification, and discover the beautiful complexity of prehistoric life and Bath’s influential role in the birth of palaeontology!

Petrification: Fossils and the Revelation of Deep Time
5th April –11th October Monday- Saturday, 10:00-16:00

To keep up to date with the latest information on ‘Petrification’ :
www.brlsi.org

And that’s just the start! To learn more about our amazing family activities for ‘Petrification‘ :  https://www.brlsi.org/about-us/families/