“It’s the first permanent museum exhibit to trace mammal evolution – from the extinction of large dinosaurs to the rise of humans – within the context of epochal changes in the Earth’s geology and climate.” That is the summary Dr. John Harris, lead curator for the Age of Mammals exhibit at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, gives about the exhibit. While to some, this description may seem vague, the museum sees it as a way of focusing on “telling a more complicated, ‘big picture story’ of mammal life” (NHM.org, Age of Mammals). However, in choosing to look at the bigger picture, the Age of Mammals exhibit loses organization and key details of evolution. For the most part, the exhibit displays Dr. Harris’ message well. The majority
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Almost all of the changes described in epochal terms are in the geology section of the first floor. The terms Pliocene and Pleistocene are only truly explained in this section, along with what geological changes happened at various points in these epochs. As mentioned previously, the museum uses an interactive element (a touch screen titled “Explore the World Map”) to highlight these changes and make them easier to understand. Unfortunately, an epoch is only mentioned once in the climate section. The term Pleistocene is mentioned very briefly in the comparison of its icehouse climate to the greenhouse climate of the Age of Dinosaurs (NHMLA, Rapid Climate Change). What the museum could have done instead is explain in depth how temperature changes in the Full Pleistocene, Younger Dryas, and Holocene maximum affected the migration and evolution of mammals (Garrison, Early …show more content…
Even in the skull fossils ranging from Australopithecus africanus to modern day humans mentioned earlier, the skull of Homo neanderthalensis is nowhere to be found. I think it is important to include Neanderthals because changes to their skeleton may have been the result of changes in the Earth’s climate. For example, our textbook states that “studies of the Neanderthal body indicates that their stout shape is similar to that of the Eskimo, perhaps reflecting an adaptation to cold temperatures” (Price and Feinman 2013: 112). Earth’s climate may have even played a part in the extinction of Neanderthals in that the onset of one of the coldest periods of the Pleistocene, as well as the arrival of fully modern humans, may have coincided with the Neanderthals being largely gone from Europe (Price and Feinman 2013:115). This is a major part of the relationship between evolving humans and the environment that the museum overlooks because of its focus on the big
Almost all of the changes described in epochal terms are in the geology section of the first floor. The terms Pliocene and Pleistocene are only truly explained in this section, along with what geological changes happened at various points in these epochs. As mentioned previously, the museum uses an interactive element (a touch screen titled “Explore the World Map”) to highlight these changes and make them easier to understand. Unfortunately, an epoch is only mentioned once in the climate section. The term Pleistocene is mentioned very briefly in the comparison of its icehouse climate to the greenhouse climate of the Age of Dinosaurs (NHMLA, Rapid Climate Change). What the museum could have done instead is explain in depth how temperature changes in the Full Pleistocene, Younger Dryas, and Holocene maximum affected the migration and evolution of mammals (Garrison, Early …show more content…
Even in the skull fossils ranging from Australopithecus africanus to modern day humans mentioned earlier, the skull of Homo neanderthalensis is nowhere to be found. I think it is important to include Neanderthals because changes to their skeleton may have been the result of changes in the Earth’s climate. For example, our textbook states that “studies of the Neanderthal body indicates that their stout shape is similar to that of the Eskimo, perhaps reflecting an adaptation to cold temperatures” (Price and Feinman 2013: 112). Earth’s climate may have even played a part in the extinction of Neanderthals in that the onset of one of the coldest periods of the Pleistocene, as well as the arrival of fully modern humans, may have coincided with the Neanderthals being largely gone from Europe (Price and Feinman 2013:115). This is a major part of the relationship between evolving humans and the environment that the museum overlooks because of its focus on the big