Opening June 8, 2019, the new, 31,000-square-foot fossil hall invites you to explore the epic story of how Earth’s distant past is connected to the present and informs our future.

Travel through ancient ecosystems, witness the evolution of life, and get up close to some 700 fossil specimens. Discover how human actions are driving Earth’s rapidly changing climate today much like long-ago geological events did in the past. Learn how to interpret the scientific evidence of the past and present, and see how the choices we make today will live far beyond us, in deep time.

Earth's distant past is connected to the present and informs our future a skeleton of a smilodon 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.