|
 |
College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum
A Pre-Columbian mammoth is the central attraction at the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum.
A wolly mammoth skeleton on display at College of Eastern Utah's Prehistoric Museum.
Jason Olson, Deseret News |
Although the skeleton on display is a fiberglass cast — the original bones are kept in a temperature-controlled room — the bones are detailed and look authentic. The new display holds its own with the dinosaurs that preceded it both in time and in the museum.
The mammoth skeleton was discovered in near-perfect condition by construction crews who were building an irrigation dam in 1988 near the top of Huntington Canyon.
The CEU Prehistoric Museum traces history through geologic displays, dinosaurs and other animals and also has displays and information about prehistoric peoples who lived in this area.
Before the mammoth display the main attraction at the museum was the elaborate dinosaur skeleton display that dominates the northern half of the museum. Most of the collection comes from the nearby Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Emery County,
The south half of the museum houses prehistoric Indian artifacts, including those of the Fremont culture common to the area around Price.
The museum, located on Main Street in downtown Price, is a focal point for people visiting such attractions as the dinosaur quarry, Nine Mile Canyon and San Rafael Swell.
The prehistoric museum had its beginnings in 1960 when Don Burge, a new instructor at the college, challenged a group of business leaders to provide a museum to house numerous small collections of artifacts held by local residents.
A first the collections were housed in two upstair rooms of the Price Municipal Building. Aided by the college, the University of Utah, the Utah Museum of Natural History and many archaeologists, the museum outgrew its spaced and moved to a large gymnasium on the ground floor of the municipal building.
For more information check out the college's museum Web site at www.ceu.edu/museum/
|
|
|
