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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

In Cretaceous Brazil, a prehistoric mammal the size of a cougar or a large dog left telltale tracks on sand dunes.

Science

Fossil Footprints in Brazil Hint at a Cougar-Size Mammal That Walked Among Dinosaurs. It’s Another Sign That Some Early Beasts Grew to Impressive Sizes After All

Don’t think of all Mesozoic mammals as meek and tiny—alongside the terrible lizards, some were giants in their own right

Infernogallus jamesi was about the size of a turkey.

Smart News

This Ancient ‘Hell Chicken’ Might Be the First Known Fruit-Loving Dinosaur, Revealing a Whole New Cretaceous Lifestyle

Infernogallus jamesi had beak and mouth adaptations that hint it could mash soft foods, like today’s frugivorous birds. The dinosaur probably munched on fruits resembling modern-day cherries and peaches, and may have helped spread seeds via its poop

The fossil was discovered in a mine in northeastern Brazil in 2008.

Smart News

Scientists Say They’ve Found Preserved Dinosaur Blood in a 115-Million-Year-Old Fossil, but Not Everyone Is Convinced

Soft tissues like blood generally break down relatively quickly after death. Environmental factors can also produce red blood cell look-alikes, so many outside researchers are cautious about the new study’s claims

An artist's illustration of Invictibellatrix amberina on what's now the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, around 120 million years ago.

Smart News

After Sitting in a London Museum Since 1924, This Dinosaur Fossil Was Named a New Predatory Species—an ‘Unconquered Female Warrior’

Invictibellatrix amberina was a long-clawed, tiger-size dinosaur that lived around 120 million years ago. It’s helping scientists piece together the global spread of megaraptors, which later became apex predators

"Jodi" is the most complete known skeleton of a Nanotyrannus

Smart News

A Rare Nanotyrannus Skeleton Sells for $47.3 Million, Becoming the Second Most Valuable Dinosaur Ever Auctioned

Paleontologists have long argued over whether some small tyrannosaur skeletons belonged to a new genus, called Nanotyrannus, or were young Tyrannosaurus rex. “Jodi” was sold just one year after researchers reported the most conclusive evidence yet that Nanotyrannus is valid

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

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

Stromatolites at Lake Thetis, Western Australia

Science

Why It’s So Difficult to Find Earth’s Earliest Life

Debate over Earth’s oldest fossils fuels the search for our deepest origins