The Aathal Dinosaur Museum (Swiss German native name: Sauriermuseum Aathal) is a

paleontological 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 geolo ...

museum in the locality '' Aathal'' of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Seegräben Seegräben is a village and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Hinwil (district), Hinwil in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. Besides the village of Seegräben itself, the m ...

in the

canton of Zürich The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (Swiss canton, canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' Capi ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, and one of the few

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

museums in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

History

Hans-Jakob Siber, a mineral and fossil dealer, started in 1977 to exhibit temporarily a fossilized giant turtle from four and a half meters in length at his annual special show in Aathal, and was featuring the eight-meter-long skeleton of an ''

Edmontosaurus ''Edmontosaurus'' ( ) (meaning "lizard from Edmonton"), with the second species often colloquially and historically known as ''Anatosaurus'' or ''Anatotitan'' (meaning "duck lizard" and "giant duck"), is a genus of hadrosaurid (duck-billed) din ...

'' four years later. In 1992 the collection was expanded and in 1993 the ''Sauriermuseum Aathal'' in the current building was opened. The family-owned company ''Siber + Siber'' supported the funding of the further activities.

Museum and excavations

Museum

The former building of the ''Baumwollspinnerei Streiff & Cie'' weaving mill in Aathal was built in 1903 and houses the museum on about , including the outside park on the surrounding property. The focus is on the museum's own excavations and original dinosaur bones, 19 special exhibitions and subsequently integrated new finds. A shop, a cafeteria and a park for children (''Dino-Gardino'') are sections of the museum. Among around 645 exhibits, there are skeletons, reproductions and originals finds of ''

Stegosaurus ''Stegosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of the genus have been fo ...

'',

Ankylosaurs Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the clade Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with Armour (zoology), armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short ...

Pterosaur Pterosaurs are an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 million to 66 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earli ...

s, 'featured' Dinosaurs, ''

Archaeopteryx ''Archaeopteryx'' (; ), sometimes referred to by its German name, "" ( ''Primeval Bird'') is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek (''archaîos''), meaning "ancient", and (''ptéryx''), meaning "feather" ...

'' eggs and embryos and footprints, as well as meteorites and minerals of ''Siber + Siber''. The collection includes 10 skeletons being finds from excavations by the museum's team, 10 further original skeletons from Dino, air and marine saurians, 19 detached skeleton fossil dinosaur replicas as well as 31 life-size dinosaur models and 42 replicas of dinosaurs and dinosaur skulls. In 2012 there were 437 guided tours, of which about three hundred for school classes, and since 1992 about 1,571,012 visitors. The staff of the museum consists of approximately 33 employees, of which six are members of the paleontological-scientific team.

Excavations

Beginning in the early 1990s, Hans-Jakob Siber and his team perform excavations on the Howe Ranch in the upper Jurassic

Morrison Formation The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltston ...

, and since 2010 in the Dana-Quarry, Ten Sleep, Big Horn Basin, Wyoming, USA. Skeletons are recovered and subsequently dissected, mounted and exhibited in Aathal. The excavation technique is presented in the museum, and the taxidermists may be seen at work in the so-called ''Schaupräparatorium''.

Facilities

Public transportation to the nearby

Aathal railway station Aathal is a railway station in the municipality of Seegräben in the Swiss canton of Zurich. It is located on the Wallisellen to Rapperswil via Uster line, within fare zone 132 of the Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV). The station is close to ...

is provided by the half-hourly service of the

Zurich S-Bahn The Zurich S-Bahn () system is a network of rail lines that has been incrementally expanded to cover the ZVV area, which comprises the entire canton of Zurich and portions of neighbouring cantons (Aargau, Glarus, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, ...

. The museum is located about north of the station, in direction towards

Uster Uster (; , ) is a town and the capital of the Uster District in the Swiss canton of Zürich. The importance of the town of Uster has grown considerably with the construction of the S-Bahn network of the Zürich Transport Network. With over 36,0 ...

. The museum is closed on Mondays. Afterhours visits are available by appointment, as well as

guided tour A tour guide (U.S.) or a tourist guide (European) is a person who provides assistance, and information on cultural, historical and contemporary heritage to people on organized sightseeing and individual clients at educational establishments, rel ...

s for groups.

Cultural heritage of national importance

In the

Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance #REDIRECT Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance {{R from other capitalisation ...

, the museum respectively the ''Baumwollspinnerei Streiff & Cie'' building is listed as a ''Class A'' object of national importance.

References

External links

* * {{authority control 1993 establishments in Switzerland Museums established in 1993 Museums in the canton of Zürich Dinosaur museums Natural history museums in Switzerland Fossil museums Paleontology in Switzerland Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Zurich Seegräben