The Paleontological and Archaeological Museum "Walter Ilha" is a Brazilian

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

located in São Pedro do Sul, in the state of

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

History

The Walter Ilha Museum has a considerable collection of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

samples of plants and animals from around 230 million years ago. It also contains collections on

archeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeolo ...

and

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

, organized with the intent to show the evolutionary history of life. The museum was officially created on 27 November 1987 by the Municipal Law No 140-83/88. However, its history is much older. Walter Ilha, a printer by profession and amateur scientist, by consulting the authorities, bibliographies, journals and other means, began looking for information on

s. Walter started a collection of fossil samples. Working together with the Executive and Legislative powers of the city, he launched the idea of creating a museum. On 28 September 1980, the ''Paleontological Museum of the São Pedro do Sul Municipality'' was inaugurated at a room adjacent to the City Radio building. Even though he was an amateur, Walter Ilha was often invited to speak on scientific events, being accepted as a member of the Brazilian Paleontology Society. Walter Ilha was tireless in his preservation efforts, always contacting people who could help in the preservation of the fossil records, and he would make use of every means available to raise public awareness on these fossils. Walter Ilha died in September 1987, but his dream began to take shape. In November of that year, the museum was officially created and received his name as a tribute to his work.History of Walter Ilha
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Collection

The museum collection started with Walter Ilha's donation of his own collection of

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

samples. Since then, the collection received contributions from UFRGS, UFSM and UNISINOS.

Notes and references

External links

São Pedro do Sul.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paleontological And Archaeological Museum Walter Ilha Archaeological museums in Brazil Geology museums in Brazil Natural history museums in Brazil Museums established in 1987 Museums in Rio Grande do Sul Fossil museums in Brazil