Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

When visitors step into the new hall, they’re welcomed by ice-age creatures like the woolly mammoth.

Gary Mulcahey, Smithsonian Institution
Special Report

Beyond Dinosaurs: The Secrets of Earth’s Past

From the formation of Earth through the changing climates and creatures of the past, the Smithsonian's Hall of Fossils explores our planet's Deep Time. Smithsonian Magazine shares stories about the hall, along with the latest news about ancient creatures.

Inside the Hall

Towering over the Fossil Hall is the plant-eating sauropod Diplodocus, which has been on display since 1931 and now is posed with tail in the air.

At the Smithsonian

Amid All the Fossils, Smithsonian's New Dinosaur Exhibition Tells the Complex Story of Life

The much-anticipated exhibition is packed full of Mesozoic dinosaur drama, new science, hands-on discoveries and state-of-the-art museum artistry

“In order to interpret the past,

At the Smithsonian

Meet the Master Muralist Who Inspired Today's Generation of Paleoartists

The treasured Jay Matternes murals of lost Mesozoic worlds are featured in a new Smithsonian book

The sequoia tree slab is an invitation to begin thinking about a vast timescale that includes everything from fossils of armored amoebas to the great Tyrannosaurus rex.

At the Smithsonian

A 16-Million-Year-Old Tree Tells a Deep Story of the Passage of Time

To explain the exceedingly long life of the planet, the Smithsonian’s new fossil hall designers began with this arboreal wonder

Dinosaur News

Illustration of the giant ancient octopus

Smart News

This Bone-Crunching Octopus Was Nearly the Size of a Semitruck and May Have Feasted on Giant Reptiles 100 Million Years Ago

The massive invertebrates may have been top predators, according to an analysis of their fossilized jaws. The work suggests that ancient oceans weren’t completely ruled by spine-bearing creatures, as previously thought

Mountains in Montana’s Makoshika State Park, where some of the Hell Creek Formation lies.

Science

The Hell Creek Formation Is North America’s Legendary Boneyard. See the Top Five Discoveries Found in the Iconic Fossil Bed

From preserved plants to T. rex, the material found in these Late Cretaceous rocks has resulted in countless breakthroughs for paleontologists

Spinosaurus was the largest and most aquatic of the spinosaurs, a group of dinosaurs with crocodilian snouts.

Science

Was Spinosaurus Really a ‘Hell Heron’? Digging Into the Star of Netflix’s ‘The Dinosaurs’

With an incredible sail and heavy bones that might have acted as ballast, Spinosaurus seems primed for snatching fish. The creature has long captivated the public, from its early mysteries to the recent discovery of a new species

The shin bone was found in New Mexico.

Smart News

This 74-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Bone May Have Belonged to a Surprisingly Large Ancestor of Tyrannosaurus Rex

The massive reptile may have weighed more than 4.5 tons and been 35 feet long—much bigger than its related peers at the time

Sue the T. rex is one of the largest and most complete skeletons of the species ever discovered. She's housed at the Field Museum in Chicago and was analyzed in this study along with three other specimens.

Smart News

Like an ‘Eight-Ton Chicken,’ Tyrannosaurus Rex May Have Run on Its Tiptoes to Catch Speedy Prey

A new study suggests that the giant dinosaurs’ locomotion resembled that of modern-day birds

Ancient Earth

This image represents one illustration of how the trilobite fossil may have been set as an amulet or pendant.

Smart News

Ancient Romans Loved Fossils Just as Much as We Do, Even Though They May Not Have Fully Understood What They Were

The newly discovered trilobite may be hundreds of millions of years old, but its use 2,000 years ago as an amulet is the focus of a new archaeological finding

The Irish elk, or Megaloceros giganteus, ranged across northern Eurasia from Siberia to Ireland and shed its giant antlers every year. It is on display in the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils—Deep Time at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

At the Smithsonian

Biggest. Antlers. Ever. Meet the Irish Elk

On view at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum, this specimen of the extinct species unlocks an evolutionary mystery

Illustration from the graphic novel 'Martina and the Bridge of Time' by Aaron O'Dea and Ian Cooke Tapia.

At the Smithsonian

Time Travel Into Panama’s Deep History With This Richly Illustrated New Graphic Novel

‘Martina and the Bridge of Time’ tells the story of the Isthmus’ formation and evolution through the adventures of a young Panamanian girl

Artist's impression of the Chicxulub impact.

Science

After the Dinosaur-Killing Impact, Soot Played a Remarkable Role in Extinction

The famous impact 66 million years ago kicked up soot into the atmosphere that played an even bigger role in blocking sunlight than experts had realized

The list covers findings in biology, justice and human rights, the environment, and more.

At the Smithsonian

Fifty Things We’ve Learned About the Earth Since the First Earth Day

On April 22, 1970, Americans pledged environmental action for the planet. Here’s what scientists and we, the global community, have done since