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This exhibition of palaeontology aims to propose an original concept with a stage design and illustrations that step “out-of-the-ordinary”. Its easy-to-understand subject matter addresses a wide audience.
This trilingual exhibition intends to:
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Promote the palaeontological heritage of the Jura Arc |
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Help people discover the profession of the palaeontologist |
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and palaeontological science |
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Highlight and exhibit the recent and previously unexhibited |
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palaeontological discoveries of the Jura Arc, backed up by the |
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presentation of remarkable historical items. |
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Relate the fabulous palaeontological history of the Jura Arc, from |
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the first dinosaurs 200 million years ago to the mammoths of the |
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last Ice Age, 15,000 years ago. |
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From 2 to 27 April in Pontarlier (Doubs)
chapelle des Annonciades
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 Pontarlier |
From 11 May to 21 September in Arinthod (Jura)
Media centre, exhibition area.
Every day except Monday from 11.00 to 18.00 |
Arinthod |
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The time path
| The symbol |
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Before they even enter the exhibition, visitors are made aware of the notion of geological time. A very powerful symbol allows them to place the palaeontological history of the Jura Arc within the 4.6 billion years that our planet has existed, symbolised by a long line on the floor. The last few metres of this time “path”, lifted up vertically, represent the history of the Jura Arc and its 220 million years. |
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| Prologue |
A prologue then gives the keys for entering the exhibition:
- the origin of the project and its partners, the different parts of the exhibition and its intentions,
- the history of palaeontology in the Jura Arc, the “Jura Arc” geological entity
- the sites and museums to visit in the Jura Arc. |
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Travelling through the exhibition …
| The exhibition is composed of 8 stage design installations grouped into 3 themes: |
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From the dinosaurs to the mammoths: |
The presentation of about a hundred fossils, most of them previously unseen, as well as two spectacular mouldings of dinosaur print tracks. |
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When I grow up, I want to be a palaeontologist!
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The presentation of the profession of the palaeontologist, from archaeological excavations to scientific analysis and the reconstruction of lost worlds using the example of the Jura teams. |
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| The history of a landscape. |
The Jura Arc as you have never dared imagine. A journey through time in pictures, from the tropical lagoons of the Jurassic period to the frozen steppes of the Quaternary. |
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From dinosaurs to mammoths: the stars of the Jura palaeontology
| The collection of fossil animals of the Jura Arc |
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The stars of the Jura palaeontology parade on a large podium: plateosaurs, ammonites, ichtyosaurs, tortoises, crocodiles and mammoths amongst others… There are no spectacular skeletons, but there are fossils with remarkable shapes. With a single glance, visitors can therefore admire over 200 million years of palaeontological history in the Jura Arc. |
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Mouldings of dinosaur tracks |
Spectacular mouldings of trails of dinosaur tracks present:
- the site of Coisia (France) discovered in 2004: partial moulding of approximately 20m². - those excavated in 2004 at Chevenez-Combe Ronde (Switzerland): mouldings of approximately 60 sq m. |
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The sites
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A computer terminal allows the discovery of the main palaeontological deposits of the Jura Arc and the landscapes where they are found…or were found! |
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When I grow up, I want to be a palaeontologist!
| Excavations |
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Discover the profession of the palaeontologists who work here in the Jura Massif: on the excavation sites, from the discovery of a fossil to the moment it is added to a collection. With the successive stages of the excavation of a tortoise shell serving as a guiding thread to this presentation. Video clips bring to life the work of the palaeontologists in various settings. |
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The enquiry |
Visitors can discover and understand the approach of the palaeontologist who manages to reconstruct the environment of the era from the deposit of dinosaur tracks. They can get under the skin of scientists for a real “Sherlock Holmes” style enquiry. By opening the doors and projects of their laboratories, scientists show the visitors how they identify the fossils and how they manage to date them or even reconstruct their environment. In this way, the visitors can see close up how the scientists work. At the end of this enquiry, the clues collected give the visitors the keys that will allow them to understand the landscape, the fauna and the flora that the dinosaurs knew 150 million years ago. |
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History of a landscape
| Photo gallery |
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Large-scale photographs present the different landscapes that could have been admired in the Jura Arc throughout its long history. Tropical lagoons, rainforests, savannahs or even frozen steppes are illustrated by comparable landscapes currently found in all corners of the world. They are compared to the old interpretations of the environment by the 19th century scientists. This is one way of briefly dealing with and debating the principle of actualism founded by Charles Lyell, who claimed at the time that: “the present is the key to the past”. A conclusion tinted by philosophy, to delight the eyes … |
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 INFO PALEO: Pontarlier - Arinthod |
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