BURGESS SHALE:
EVOLUTION'S BIG BANG

FOSSILS OF BURGESS SHALE EXPLORED AT McCLUNG MUSEUM IN SMITHSONIAN TRAVELING EXHIBITION

" Burgess Shale: Evolution's Big Bang," will open at the Frank H. McClung Museum on August 30, 2002 and will continue through December 1, 2002. "Burgess Shale" is a new exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), which uses fossils, lifelike models, scientific illustrations and interactives to highlight events of this evolutionary upsurge.

More than 500 million years ago, Anomalcaris - a gigantic beast for its time at 3 feet long - roamed the seas, preying on smaller creatures. Pikaia, a slightly flattened worm, harbored a special trait: it was a primitive chordate and the earliest known ancestor of the phylum that included mammals. These fascinating creatures, as well as many others, were discovered within the Burgess Shale, a fossil deposit in the Canadian Rockies. The fossils of the Burgess Shale provide researchers with the most complete record of life at the time of the so-called "Cambrian Explosion" a biological "big bang," which began 600 million years ago.

"Burgess Shale" showcases the astonishing diversity of creatures discovered within the landscape. Ranked as one of the 20th century's most significant paleontological discoveries, the Burgess Shale was discovered in 1909 by Charles Walcott, then Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

The exhibition explores current theories about the "Cambrian Explosion" (543 million - 490 million years ago) - a burst of evolutionary activity that generated a sudden increase in the complexity and variety of animal life - and presents highlights from the story of early life on Earth. Detailed descriptions and illustrations of the extraordinary creatures found in the Burgess Shale combine with the tales and methods of the paleontologists who have studied these fossils to engage the audience in an exciting and ever-changing adventure.

Visitors will learn how many of the fossil faunas found in the Burgess shale are among the earliest representations of virtually all-modern, multi-cellular animals. Others appear unrelated to any living forms and their later disappearance presents an intriguing mystery to paleontologists.

After its viewing in Knoxville, the exhibition will continue on a four-year tour to a total of 15 institutions.

"Burgess Shale: Evolution's Big Bang" was developed by SITES and the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History's Department of Paleobiology. The exhibition curator, Douglas H. Erwin of the museum, is the co-author of The Fossils of the Burgess Shale. Further information about the Burgess Shale is available at http://www.nmnh.si.edu/paleo/shale/

The McClung Museum is a general museum with collections in anthropology, archaeology, decorative arts, local history and natural history, and ancient Egypt. The permanent collections include Archaeology and the Native Peoples of Tennessee, Ancient Egypt, Decorative Arts, Geology and Fossil History of Tennessee, Freshwater Mollusks and the Civil War. The exhibits showcase much of Tennessee's past - its culture, history, art and geology. The temporary exhibits change approximately every three to six months.

The Frank H. McClung Museum is located on the campus of the University of Tennessee, at Circle Park Drive. Admission is free. Hours: Mon.- Sat. 9A.M. -5P.M. Sun. 1P.M. -5P.M. Parking is available on Circle Park Drive and is free, with a permit from the information booth at Circle Park Drive. (865) 974-2144. Group tours for children or adults are available, but reservations are required; please call (865) 974-2144 to schedule a tour. For more information, please contact the Museum at (865) 974-2144

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