Timeless Treasure

Prehistoric days dinos, the Lost Dutchman Mine and the old town jail amuse young and old at Mesa Southwest Museum

Dinosaurs have recently leapt from their fossil beds, becoming live, fully fleshed monsters on the silver screen in such thrillers as Disney's Dinosaur. I had thought a Disney movie would be a safe bet, but soon discovered I was wrong. My 4-year-old twins kept me up after our movie experience with night terrors caused by red-eyed, bloodthirsty monsters. So when I decided to take Hayden and Blake to the Mesa Southwest Museum to see the new Prehistoric Wing, I had my reservations. We chatted about dinosaur bones during the ride over as I tried to turn fear into a science lesson. They seemed excited, but when we entered the museum foyer and came face to face with the imposing skeletal replica of a juvenile mighty Asian tyrannosaurus bataar, the boys kept their distance. This fellow stands in the entryway caught mid-gallop with its neck lowered and jaws agape, showing off a set of sharp, jagged teeth. When it stayed immobile, frozen in time, Hayden ventured forward to peer at the terrible giant. "That's a dinosaur," he pronounced.

MUSEUM OF ARIZONA HIGHWAYS MAGAZINE GALLERY ALL AGES

The boys stayed close as I purchased our tickets and grabbed a map that promised to take us on a journey through time. Once inside, we entered a tunnel lit with blinking white lights. The opening exhibit acquaints time-travelers with the sights of Arizona in a four and a half-minute scenic video narrated by Rex Allen Jr. Then museum-goers explore Southwestern night skies in the Hall of Astronomy, where displays of meteorites invite a friendly touch. Next we're on to the Hall of Minerals, a showcase of Arizona's stony wealth. Large chunks of gleaming quartz introduce visitors to the gems and minerals lining the dark hallway. Hayden pointed to the clear crystals and in an imposing voice informed me of their origin: "That's ice," he said. He tilted his head as if in thought and then added, "The extravagantly vibrant specimens of copper ore minerals lining the hallway - chrysocolla, azurite, malachite and others hint at Arizona's rich mining history.

Our first glimpse of the three-story Dinosaur Mountain, home to dinosaurs from three time periods, awaited around the bend. Dinosaurs occupying the main level of the mountain lived 155 million years ago in Jurassic Arizona. We were pointing out the different dinosaurs inhabiting the mountain when the spike-tailed stegosaurus moved, startling Hayden. Up above on a rocky ledge, a tyrannosaurus rex roared and shook his head. Hayden looked at the two animatronic dinosaurs and in a solemn voice announced, "He's going to eat him."

MUSEUM OF ALL AGES

Remembering our bout with nightmares, I opened the museum map in search of another exhibit. A sharp thunderclap exploded overhead. Along with other observers hanging on the rails, the three of us shrieked in surprise. Then more thunder boomed and lightning flickered over the looming mountain. Out of nowhere, a flash flood roared down the rocky surface, transforming the trickling stream into a rushing waterfall. Peering down to the swampy bottom where dinosaurs from the Triassic period hid in rising mist, we watched the storm brew and then recede.

Blake wanted to see more and bravely set off down the stairs to face Paleozoic Arizona. The state's stint as a shallow sea, 311 million to 290 million years ago, left layers of mud and shell material that hardened into the limestone found in central and southern Arizona. We discovered the Triassic forest, complete with fleshed-out models of Arizona's early inhabitants. Below the ancient trees, postosuchus, a crocodilelike predator, stalks his prey, the tusked, mammal-like reptile placerias. Noticing two little faces with mixed expressions, I hurried the boys down the hall to the aquatic display.

The intrigue of a darkened room off the main hallway beckoned visitors looking for oceanic adventures. Inside, monsters ply the waters of Cretaceous seas. Mosasaur, a marine lizard distantly related to the Gila monster and monitor lizard, and a pliosaur, another seafaring reptile, swim overhead - suspended in this eerie slice of a dark blue sea. Many children seemed to shun the ghostly darkness and soon scampered back into the well-lit hallway to view the inhabitants of the living fossil aquarium.

At the lower level Discovery Resource Center, a busy hands-on approach to learning includes bug displays, computer programs, chunks of minerals and petrified wood, casts of dinosaur bones and teeth, and coloring areas. Along with the regular activities, the museum's calendar includes a variety of workshops, such as copper experiments and mini-dinosaur excavations, taught by education specialists.

Back on the main floor, we walked through Dinosaur Hall craning our necks at the towering, 30-foot-long specimen of a camarasaurus, a member of the sauropod family, among the largest dinosaurs walking the Earth 150 million years ago. Other featured skeletons, cast from fossils, include the bony-plated stegosaurus and the three-horned triceratops.

The Prehistoric Wing, which opened in May 2000, doubled the museum's total area to 80,000 square feet. The wing showcases the multitude of fossils found in the Southwest, including new finds from some of the museum's own archaeological projects. In 1996, adjunct curator Douglas Wolfe joined others from the Southwest Paleontological Society in discovering a new species of horned dinosaur, the zuniceratops christopheri, at a site near Springerville. A display of several of this new dinosaur's fossilized bones and a video of the excavation illustrate the importance of the Southwest to paleontological discoveries.

But the fossils don't have the new wing all to themselves. The third floor, which brings us up close to the tip of Dinosaur Mountain, also houses a permanent exhibit of more than 40 large-scale photographs from Arizona Highways magazine. Snowcapped mountaintops, colorful carpets of wildflowers in full bloom and majestic Southwest sunsets are just a few of the splendors revealed. In the reading area, a young boy sat in an overstuffed leather chair reading an Arizona Highways book, The Best Alphabet Book in the Wild West, while his mother browsed the shelves overflowing with tomes on the Southwest.

We left the Prehistoric Wing, walking forward in time to experience the life of ancient cultures from the mammothhunting Paleo-Indians to the time of the Hohokam, who inhabited the Phoenix area from 300 B.C. to A.D. 1450. A path through a village of Hohokam pit houses and artifacts reveals how everyday life might have been for these early Arizonans. Another area sheds light on the techniques used to excavate the hundreds of miles of ancient irrigation canals, whose routes modern canals follow. Intricately decorated pots, jewelry and baskets excavated by local archaeologists are displayed throughout the village.

through a village of Hohokam pit houses and artifacts reveals how everyday life might have been for these early Arizonans. Another area sheds light on the techniques used to excavate the hundreds of miles of ancient irrigation canals, whose routes modern canals follow. Intricately decorated pots, jewelry and baskets excavated by local archaeologists are displayed throughout the village.

Then we walked through an adobe representation of the first Spanish mission built in Arizona and adventured through a tunnel to discover the legend of the Lost Dutchman Mine. The rocky tunnel exits into Territorial jail cells, which were used until the 1970s. (Before the museum opened on May 23, 1977, the building housed the city's courthouse, police station, council chambers and jail.) I started to relax as we strolled down a re-creation of Main Street when Mesa was a small town. No monsters lurked behind these cheery storefronts. The actual businesses, operated between 1900 and 1930, were located between Macdonald and Robson streets and included Staple and Fancy Groceries, the OK Meat Market and C.C. Jarrett Co., selling "smart furnishings and shoes."

The final exhibit, situated near the gift shop, features movies made in Arizona. Posters tout such favorites as Geronimo, Return of the Jedi, The Karate Kid, Days of Thunder and Bus Stop. One case displays movie mementos from Gene Autry's career and items worn by Arizona's own Rex Allen. Kids of all ages get an opportunity to star in movies as well. A large TV screen plays the Western film Arizona, while a camera mounted in the back takes each wannabe actor's image and adds it to the story. The boys made faces, jumped up and down, and thrilled at stardom as they joined William Holden and Jean Arthur in Arizona movie history.

I began to have faith we'd made it through our first museum experience and fared better than we had on our earlier big-screen dinosaur adventure that is, until we walked back out into the foyer where the tyrannosaurus bataar looked at us through hollow eyes. The boys, who had been independently exploring the last half of the museum, grabbed my hands as we passed the toothy giant. Hayden stopped for a moment, glared hard at the bony dinosaur and said, "Mom, I want a dog."

I silently agreed, thinking that a furry protector might allow me to get more sleep. Off to the pet store we went. AH Carrie M. Miner of Glendale feels lucky to have survived her first family museum trip, but is saving pointillism for much, much later.

LOCATION: 53 N. Macdonald St., Mesa.

GETTING THERE: From Phoenix, take the Superstition Freeway, U.S. Route 60, to the Country Club Drive exit. Go north on Country Club Drive approximately 1.8 miles; turn right onto Main Street; drive three blocks to Macdonald Street and turn left. The museum is on the southeast corner of First and Macdonald streets.

HOURS: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.; Sunday, 1 to 5 P.M.; closed on Mondays and major holidays.

FEES: $5, seniors; $6, adults; $5, students with ID; $3, ages 3-12; free, under 3.

TRAVEL ADVISORY: Free parking is available in front of the museum on Macdonald Street and in the Pepper Street garage. Entrances to the Pepper Street garage are located off First and Pepper streets.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: (480) 644-2230; group tours, (480) 644-3553; educational programs, (480) 644-5083.