At Te Papa, the new Museum of New Zealand we have a highly successful mosasaur dig (mosasaurs having been apparently more common in these parts than their terrestrial counterparts). It's a cast "art-rock" (proprietary cement/concrete material) skeleton embedded into the base of an "excavation". This is filled with sand (sometimes containing, as part of a booked programme, ceramic replica fossils of shells). Visitors (usually children, or parents with children) can then "excavate" the fossil, brushing away the sand to reveal the form beneath. For young children it's a treasure hunt in a sand-pit, for older ones and for programmed groups it's used to teach about palaeontology, excavation and science. It has been very successful indeed in the 18 months since we opened. Because it is outside, we need to cover it carefully each night, and check it in the morning for cat (and other) droppings - the only draw-back. ________________ Stuart Park Te Papa, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand. [log in to unmask] ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://museums.state.nm.us/nmmnh/museum-l.html. You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).