Experience Saskatchewan’s Dinosaur Trails
Photo Courtesy of The Royal Saskatchewan Museum
T. rex Discovery Centre, Photo courtesy of Paul Austring and Tourism Sask
You never know what you’ll learn on the Saskatchewan dino trails While one of the first thoughts of the Saskatchewan landscape today is one of grain crops and cattle, several museums across the southern half of the province in many respects “bring to life” the flora and fauna of a dramatically different landscape and climate from more than 150 million years ago. Whether you’re travelling through the small community of Herschel in west central Saskatchewan, to Regina or south to Eastend (and many points in between) you can discover the artifacts of the long-disappeared dinosaur era. During what’s known as the Cretaceous period (145 to 65 million years ago) Saskatchewan was covered by the shallow muddy Western Interior Seaway. Palaeontologists have learned much over the past 100 years about the vast array or prehistoric creatures ranging from marine reptiles, razor-toothed fish, and plant and meat eating dinosaurs that lived on, in, or near this expansive water body. The Ancient Echoes Interpretive Centre at Herschel (west of Hwy 4, northwest of Rosetown) opened in what used to be a community school more than 20 years ago. In the 7 former classrooms you can travel over the millennia. An impressive
display of marine fossils, many found in the nearby Coal Mine Ravine, provides examples of creatures that lived in or near the inland sea some 65 million years ago. One of the highlights at Ancient Echoes is a fossil of a Shortnecked Plesiosaur - Dolichorhynchops herschelensis found near the community. It is considered ‘one-of-a-kind’ marine reptile of the genus Dolichorhynchops identified from other specimens throughout North America. In the summer the centre also offers guided tours of petroglyph carvings, teepee rings and rubbing stones left behind by aboriginal tribes that lived in the area about 1,600 years ago. Indoors are extensive displays of these First Nations residents, as well as explorers and European settlers who came later. In the spring and summer the centre is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm - winters, by appointment only. For more details visit the website at: ancientechoes.ca
And In Regina! While it is all about history, there is always something new to experience at The Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina.
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