New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science to renovate space and bring 'Ancient Life' to visitors

Oct. 23—The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science (NMMNHS) will unveil a new exhibit showcasing New Mexico's oldest lifeforms in a brand-new way. But you have to wait until the end of 2024.

The museum's Origins Hall is going to be closed as part of a comprehensive reimagining of the exhibit space.

The new hall will feature hundreds of never-before-seen fossils from NMMNHS's Research Collections and be the largest exhibition of its kind in the Southwest.

The coming hall, titled "Ancient Life," is the first renovation of this exhibit space since 1987, just a year after the museum opened to the public.

"Across our 15 museums and historic sites, our focus is making sure our exhibits stay relevant, current and engaging for all New Mexicans," said Debra Garcia y Griego, Department of Cultural Affairs Cabinet Secretary. "We're thrilled that the $800,000 that the Department of Cultural Affairs has been able to secure for this upgrade will give New Mexico's most-visited museum the opportunity to upgrade one of its core exhibits with a focus on New Mexico fossils."

Beginning nearly 300 million years before the dinosaurs began walking the earth, the Paleozoic Era was the first of three geologic eras that featured multicellular life, according to the museum.

During the Paleozoic, life crawled out of the sea for the first time, and amphibians, reptiles and arthropods all evolved.

The Paleozoic Era ended with the Permian extinction, the largest extinction event in known history, which eventually paved the way for dinosaurs to evolve.

"Ancient Life" will focus on what the Paleozoic Era was like in what's now New Mexico, showcasing around 200 fossils collected all over the Land of Enchantment, from Rio Arriba to Doña Ana County.

Approximately half of the counties in New Mexico will be represented by the fossils in this new exhibit.

The exhibition will also feature the oldest discovered fossil in New Mexico: a trilobite fossil from around 500 million years ago discovered near the Caballo Mountains, as well as the footprints made by the largest arthropod to have ever lived on Earth.

"For more than 30 years, museum scientists have collected and studied fossils across New Mexico to learn what our state was like before the dinosaurs," said Anthony Fiorillo, NMMNHS executive director. "Not only will the renovations feature an updated look and feel, but they will allow us to bring many of our oldest fossils out of research collections for the public to view for the very first time and tell new stories about the ancient history of our state."

Fiorillo says updates from the exhibits will be at nmnaturalhistory.org for updates and additional details about the exhibit.