The David H. Koch Hall of Fossils: Deep Time

Life and the Earth have always evolved together.

When it opens on June 8, 2019, the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils — Deep Time will take visitors on a journey through the epic story of our planet and the life that has both shaped and been shaped by it.

Deep Time starts at the very beginning—4.6-billion-years ago. But it ends in the future. Along the way, visitors will travel through ancient ecosystems, experience the evolution of plant and animal life, and get up close with some 700 specimens, including an Alaskan palm tree, early insects, reptiles and mammals, and dramatically posed giants like Tyrannosaurus rex, Diplodocus and the woolly mammoth.

The massive, 31,000-square-foot exhibition will inspire a new generation of dinosaur lovers and scientists. It will also prompt individuals to think about their own impact on the planet.

Unlike past extinction and warming events, human activities are driving Earth’s rapidly changing climate today. The exhibition will give visitors tools to interpret the past, present, and future and see how the choices they make today will live far beyond them, in deep time.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website