Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2

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2006 exhibition

Out of Africa -Dinosaurs of a lost world.

Displaying local finds.

Education News.

Field trips.

A new French Guide.

5 Years on.Issue 2, December 2006

Dinosaur diaries

The newsletter for Dinosaur Isle; the premier dinosaur museum in southern England.

In this issue

A model of Baryonyx – the biggest predatory dinosaur on the Isle of Wight. Model made by Steve Hutt.

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ContentsOut of Africa – summer exhibition 3

Green Island Awards 6

Parlez vous Franglais? 7

Education News 8

Experimental Clay Project 10

As seen on TV 12

Field Trips 13

School find 14

Displaying local finds? 15

The Fox Project 16

Then and now – 5 years on 17

Website changes 20

Summer visitors 21

Shop News 22

African Dinosaur Wordsearch 23

News from the I.W. Heritage Service 24

Out-of-season schools accommodation 26

Artworks 27

Produced by

Dinosaur IsleCulver ParadeSandownIsle of WightPO36 8QA

Editor: Trevor Price

Community Learning Officer.

All articles by TP unless stated otherwise.

© 2006 Dinosaur Isle, Isle of Wight Council

IntroductionWelcome to the second edition of Dinosaur Diaries, the newsletter for Dinosaur Isle. This issue attempts to give a flavour of some of the things we did in 2006; but we have been so busy that it has been slightly late coming out. If you want to see an article about something we have missed then please contact us.

Much has happened at Dinosaur Isle since the first version of the newsletter appeared.There have been a number of changes to the organization we are part of. The Museum Service has gone, and now we are part of the new Isle of Wight Heritage Service. Adverts for other parts of the Service continue to be included at the end of this newsletter.

A number of television companies have been filming at the museum and on the local beach. The arrival of the new Prehistoric Park series on the television may have had something to do with this, but Dinosaurs are always popular with all ages.

Dinosaur Diaries is available free on our website as a downloadable document. The format is pdf, and it can be accessed from the webpagewww.dinosaurisle.com/newsletter.aspx

About us …Dinosaur Isle is a museum and visitor attraction - displaying fossils, especially dinosaurs, from the Isle of Wight. As part of the Isle of Wight Council we are responsible for the ongoing conservation, display and interpretation of a collection of fossils that started life in the early nineteenth century, and which has been passed down through the care of generations of curators. We aim to pass on the collection unharmed to future generations (enhanced by our own collecting and acquisitions, and those donated by the public).

See www.dinosaurisle.com for further information and news about us and what we do.

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Out of AfricaDinosaurs of a lost world

Summer exhibition 2006

This years summer exhibition is drawing to a close. Did you see it? What was it all about?

Each year we put on a themed exhibition which accompanies the existing displays. For 2006 the theme was African dinosaurs.

During the 19th Century Africa was an inhospitable and mostly inaccessible continent, with explorers and missionaries suffering incredible privations, hardships, disease and expense to reach and map out new regions. Amongst theses intrepid pioneers were a small number of fossil hunters including Richard Markgraf, Professor Fraas and Dr Werner Janensch who explored Africa just before the First World War. These German fossil hunters found remains of hitherto unknown and exciting large dinosaurs.

Of interest to us are three types of African dinosaur; the long necked sauropods, ornithopods like Iguanodon and a large meat eating dinosaur called Spinosaurus. Why? you might ask … well these animals are related to some of the dinosaurs on the Isle of Wight. What makes this unusual is that at the beginning of the Cretaceous (about 125 million years ago) a large ocean called the Tethys separated Europe from Africa. Fossil evidence from the sea-floor of the Mediterranean shows that these dinosaurs may have island-hopped across the narrower part of the ocean between Spain and Morocco.

And what of next years exhibition? We can say that it is on a different scale and from an entirely different time-zone; and that preparations are already underway.

Read about it in the next newsletter or on the webpage www.dinosaurisle.com/exhibition.aspx

For further details please contact Steve Hutt at Dinosaur Isle.

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Out of Africabuilding a sandpit model

Most children love making a mess! So this year we made a large sandpit and stocked it with some replicas of Stromer’s Spinosaurus bones.

1) The first task, after researching published data on the skeleton, is to make some small scale clay models from which to make the full size items that will go into the pit.

2) Full size replicas are then made in modelling clay.

3) Rubber moulds are made of all of the parts; in this case the finger bones and claws.

4) The final items are cast in a hard plaster ready to paint.

5) The finished items are then placed into the sandpit ready to be discovered by thousands of eager children (and parents) armed with brushes and goggles.It is not always the children who get

carried away in the sandpit; we saw an activity centre organizer having fun getting everyone covered in sand, you know who you are … Photographs supplied by

Lora Apps

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Keep an eye on our website to see what we have planned for the 2007 Summer Exhibition

Out of Africabuilding a full-size 2D

Spinosaurus

Last year Steve made a full size mdf cutout of a Tyrannosaurus rex that was mounted on the front of our lab. This gave our visitors some idea of the scale of this fearsome creature. This year he decided to create a similar model of a Spinosaurusto show just how much bigger it was than T. rex.

1) The first task is to draw up a plan, and to try out some different colour schemes

2) Then cut the mdf panels to shape and apply the first coats of paint.

3) An airbrush is used to apply the final colour and camouflage.

4) Finally use a ‘cherry-picker’to place the panels in position.

The comparison with T. rex soon becomes apparent, Spinosaurusis both taller and longer, but lacks the powerful, crushing jaws of Tyrannosaurus rex.

Photographs supplied by Lora Apps

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Green Island Awards

For the second year running Dinosaur Isle was awarded the Gold Standard at the Green Island Award ceremonies at Cowes on the 25th of May 2006.

In addition to its Gold Award for meeting strict criteria for its environmental impact Dinosaur Isle was nominated for Attraction of the Year alongside Ventnor Botanical Gardens and Chessel Pottery Barns. Dinosaur Isle and Ventnor Botanical Gardens (the winner) are both currently run by the same part of the Isle of Wight Council thus demonstrating the Council's efforts in reducing its environmental footprint.

The awards were presented at the prestigious Cowes Yacht Haven. Peter Pusey (general manager) and Trevor Price (Community Learning Officer) represented the museum at the presentation.

Over 90 tourism related businesses are taking part in the scheme and the trend is for this number to increase in future years.

For further information why not access the website http://www.greenislandtourism.org

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Parlez vousFranglais?

The process started with my predecessor submitting some English text to one of those software translator programmes. When we got the result back and tried it on a visiting French school teacher he couldn’t stop laughing, telling us it had obviously just substituted the nearest French word it could find. After this attempt, we got more comments from a visiting French family. It still wasn’t right because of the extent of the corruption by the original programme. The auto-translation had pretty well butchered the original text so it was passed to a former member of staff who is French.

It has long been my aim to produce some brief guide leaflets for our overseas visitors. The first of these (a French version) has now been produced, and is available to be downloaded from our website. We will also have a small quantity available in printed form at the museum.

If your school has a

languages department and

would like to have a go at

producing a Dutch or German

version then we would like to

hear from you.

After much re-writing the leaflet is now finished; the result is a double-sided A4 colour sheet.

The end result could not have been produced without the hard work put in by Anne Yvonne Baker to whom I am extremely grateful.

Copies can be downloaded from the webpageswww.dinosaurisle.com/info.aspx or www.dinosaurisle.com/about_us.aspx

(files are in acrobat pdf format).

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Education News

The 2006 school year started in January with a visit by a local Reception class, followed by a number of visits from an Island secondary school where we were able to provide support for the Evolution component of their GCSE Biology. The remainder of January and February saw the slow build up of visiting schools which peaks each year in June.

In February I was asked to go to Sandown Primary School to provide two sessions on Rocks and Soils to their Year 3 classes. I arrived with a Landrover full of rocks, fossils and some big cola bottles pre-filled with sand, clay and soil to show how water percolates through different soils (a messy, but fun experiment). I was shown into a classroom and the memories flooded back. This was my classroom when I went to the school a long time ago. It seemed just as cluttered with interesting objects (if a little smaller than I remember). February also saw a visit by a Home Education Group, and our lead in an experimental clay project (see the next article for details).

March saw the build up of the visiting mainland schools and the beginnings of the many field trips we lead for schools each year. Our A-level geology session with Ryde High School took place again with their pupils conducting a logging exercise over two days in the field, followed by a session back at the museum on the third day to tie it all together. We saw visits from two European groups hosted by Ryde High School (French and Italian students here on exchange), and we had a visit from a Belgian school to whom we had to give a presentation.

In April our Education Room was used for a carers assessment and for some visiting SEN adults. After the school holidays the museum was filled with schools from the UK mainland. We went to the Lyme Regis Fossil Fair, and I had an opportunity on the Friday to follow a number of local Dorset schools as they used the facilities provided there. We came back with a number of ideas.

Also in April the National Lottery awarded Dinosaur Isle a Blue Plaque in recognition of its contribution towards the educational experience it provides for school children.

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May, June and July were intensive months (with almost 70 educational groups in May and over 80 in June. The Isle of Wight Walking Festival was as popular as ever. I am a marshal on ‘Walk the Wight’ each year. Thousands of people attempt to walk across the Island from east to west - and this year’s event saw a number of local schools taking part. It raises money for an Island Hospice – a truly worthwhile cause. We also started ‘Dinostroll’ as part of the Walking Festival – an event for under-8’s and their parents – it involves a story-telling session at Sandown library – a story-telling walk along our local beach - and a reduced price entry to Dinosaur Isle.

June saw the start of a re-engineering project for our local car-park, and we were able to put in some suggestions for a safer walk-way (we go through the car-park, on the way to the beach, for our field trips). I was also able to attend the Launch Conference for the new Local Safeguarding Children Board, and visited Summerfields Primary School to provide two sessions on Dinosaurs to their Reception and Year 1 children as part of a dinosaur study day. The dinosaur day at the school saw the teachers wearing our dinosaur heads, and children ‘roaring’ and ‘mooing’ as they tried to interpret how dinosaurs may have sounded. A very lively, and deafening! day.

During July we hosted a number of visiting language students (through EF Language) - here to improve their already excellent language skills and to learn about the best dinosaur site in Europe! We collected a large globe, with the 3D continents placed where they were in the Early Cretaceous about 120 million years ago. We now need to acquire a rotating base and to design an interpretation panel for it.

August was quiet for schools - but is the busiest time of the year for families, including a number of children from schools who came back with their parents. Television crews invaded the museum for children's programmes and a national German series.

In September, after the holidays, the schools came back again, and we ran an Extinction themed session for Ryde Junior School. I led a trip to Hanover Point to support a site-visit by an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) conference.

October saw the start of an Island-wide project to encourage school use of museums for Key-Stage 4; and we saw our first flurry of first-year geology and palaeontology undergraduates.

The year ended with planning for next year, collecting material for the Education Room (including a large quartz pegmatite from Snowdon – kindly donated by Nina Taylor - collected many decades ago). By the end of December we had seen close to 10,000 educational students and 1200 teachers, learning assistants, governors and support staff.

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Community Experimental Clay Project - 2006

Geology has always been a fascinating subject to me, and there are so many exciting areas that can be studied.

However when trying to introduce a sceptical public to the joys of what may be a favourite subject to you just how do you find a way of inspiring them?

The aim

Early in January 2006 I started an experimental project on the natural clays of the Isle of Wight. The aim was to introduce learners to the variety of clays on the island – we did this by getting them to collect samples of clay from various beaches, make them into pots and other clay objects, fire them using an ancient technique and then finally compare them with Neolithic items held in the Isle of Wight Heritage Service’s collection. Records were kept of which clay was used in order to see if any were more suitable than others.

Who took part

Participants included the Isle of Wight branch of the Young Archaeologist’s Club, the local Neolithic studies group who were investigating ancient farming techniques on the Island, and a number of local archaeologists. Access was provided to some of the county’s ancient clay pot fragments at the Ryde store.

The geology bit

The Isle of Wight is made of many types of sedimentary rocks; including limestones like the white Chalk, sandstones, mudstones and clay. There are many different types and colours of clays exposed all around its coastline which provided a useful starting point.

The clays used ranged in age from 124 million year oldblue, grey and pink Wessex silty-mudstones collected at Yaverland to 35 million year old black and bright-green clays from the Seagrove Bay Member. The bright blue Chale Clay was also collected from Yaverland. Lumps of Chalk, and fossil snails, were collected to add to the mix of clays.

Collecting the clay

The collecting started in a very cold January and continued into February. Tubs of clay were filled and sorted into marked bags ready to use. This was the first hint that the project was going to get very messy!

The clays were made into pots at Dinosaur Isle on two separate occasions by the adults’ and children's groups. After the pots had dried we moved to Joy’s spacious garden where we were able to fire the pots in the base of a bonfire, using turfs to keep in the heat.

Firing (and repairing the damage!)

Retrieving the pots and other items from the fire after a few days proved somewhat difficult. This was an adult-only day for safety reasons. There had been some rain before the turf on the fire could be removed and a number of the pots near the top had exploded. The pots nearer the base had survived reasonably well, as had a number of clay beads. The fire was still so hot that even with gloves and oven tongs I managed to develop a sun-tan!

Back at Dinosaur Isle members of the Young Archaeologists’ Club glued some of the pots back together and it became apparent that a few of the pots had distorted in the heat. There was no relationship to the type of clay or the size of pot, so the distortion may have occurred as a result of other factors like the heat or water content.

A fired pot made from clay of the Seagrove Bay Member. The clay was deposited over the north-east of the Island about 35 million years ago. Although the English Channel was yet to form as we know it today there were warm shallow-marine seas in which were deposited fine clays and sands. The Seagrove Bay Member is internationally important; the sediments provide evidence of the climate and ecology of the time.

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2

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The project attracted more individuals as the weeks rolled by. It was good fun and there is an enthusiasm to repeat the experiment with a wider audience if we can get a safe place to do the firing.

This project would not have happened without the enthusiasm and help of Delian Backhouse-Fry from the Young Archaeologists’ Club, Joy Verrinderfrom Carisbrooke Castle Museum, Corina Westwood from the Isle of Wight Heritage Service and a host of other volunteers.

Outcomes

Samples of the clay pots were compared with fragments of ancient pottery held at the museum collection at Ryde, and it was hard to see any differences either in hand specimen or down the microscope.

Powdered chalk and fossil snails were mixed in to some of the clay to see if we could match the fabric of some ancient pot fragments in the museum collections - and in the end they matched extremely well. I understand this mix gets called ‘grog’ by archaeologists.

It was relatively easy to make the pots although the whole process took some time. Given that the pots are not all that robust and Neolithic pottery usually only survives as fragments the original pots were possibly treated as disposable items.

I had heard that this kind of pottery, when it is found in the ground, is described as being like wet ‘dog biscuit’. Our final pots looked like dog biscuit that had been put in a fire. I don’t think there would have been many dogs who would have eaten it though…

In conclusion

we were surprised at some of the outcomes.

• The fabric of our pots were remarkably similar to ancient pottery.

• The Gault Clay had not been expected to survive firing because it has a very high Iron Sulphide content, but we got good pots from it.

• Some of the Seagrove Bay Member clays remained a beautiful green when the pots were first made but went black or brick-brown when fired. This was by far the best clay to use but all of the other clays, including the Wessex Formation clays proved useable.

A tile

I chickened out of making a pot and decided instead to make a medieval floor tile. I drew a pattern into the green clay slab and placed a white pasty-clay made from young Oligocene rocks into the groove. It survived firing and I was pleased that it had worked. Delian’s clay beads all survived, as did a very fragile ornamental ‘tree’.

Record keeping

A record was kept of the type of clay used for each pot and it seemed that all of the clays we used were possible candidates for ancient potters on the Island. Although the coastline would have been very different then the geology of the Island was such that all of the clays we used should have been exposed thousands of years ago, and available to our ancestors.

Evaluation

When the project was over we held two group evaluations (one for the adults and one for the children). The oldest and youngest clays turned out to be the best to use. The Gault Clay was difficult to shape, but fired well. Several members acquired new skills in shaping the pots. The adults marked the project as 5 out of 5 for enjoyment, with both adults and children identifying the making and reassembly of the broken pots as the most enjoyable part. The adults were inspired to go and collect more clay, and to try to build a sled or basket to transport the clay. The adults expressed interest in making a display of the outcome of the project in our Education Room.

Progression

After we had finished the experimental work a number of the ‘Neolithic farmers’ went away and tried some different firing regimes. They had more success with the pots surviving. We think that we may have overheated some of our first pots and had not allowed them to cool down for long enough before exposing them to the air.

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As seen on TV

This summer we were inundated with requests for filming. During the early part of August the BBC filmed two shows. The first was a live broadcast for BBC South Today (the regional early-evening news show). Steve heroically took on the role of local expert, and along with a group of local children did a great job of demonstrating the fossil potential at the nearby beach. This was merged with some pre-recorded material back at the museum, and the coverage, presentation and acting was excellent. However there is a saying “never work with children or animals”, and for those who saw the show, there was one young girl who stole the limelight and who is destined to go far on TV!

Hot on the heals of the live show was another for the BBC, the CBBC channel for young children. Again Steve did his bit with filming in the museum, showing how dinosaur fossils are formed, found, cleaned and displayed in museums.

The day after CBBC were here we had a film crew producing a show for very young children. This will go out later in the year for Channel 5’s Milkshake show. Trevor took on this role, wearing a white lab coat (apparently lab coat = instant expert in television land). This shoot followed a theme of – well you will just have to watch the show to find out …

Early in September we played host to a German film crew who turned up with more boxes, cameras, equipment, crew and extras than all of the other visits combined. We became the headquarters of a fictitious company for the day and Dinosaur Isle was made over for a few hours. For those who were passing, and were familiar with the building it must have been a strange sight…

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Field tripsEach year we like to get as many of our visitors as possible out of the building and take them to sites where they can see the spectacular geology of the Island - and perhaps collect some fossils at the same time. The site visits are led by our professional staff and we try to run them all year. During the Easter and Summer holidays we run extra trips. Over the last few years these walks along the coast have steadily increased, supporting the Council’s drive for improving the health of local communities. What better way to blow away those cobwebs than with an excursion to the beach in February!

We normally use our local beach at Yaverland (shown during winter in the photograph) but last year I experimented with an additional public site. Both sites show excellent exposures of the early to mid-Cretaceous geology of the Island, and exhibit a variety of former environments recorded by the rocks and the fossils.

This new site proved to be very popular so during 2006 some extra trips were planned. The number of trips to our second main site has soared from 7 to 22- a threefold increase that looks set to continue.

In addition to the open trips that we lead for the public we also offer the opportunity for community groups to book a closed event for their members.

Guided site visits are available (tide-times permitting for coastal trips) for specialist groups, including geological and palaeontological societies. We can sometimes setup extra events for smaller groups (for example birthday trips). Please contact us if you wish to arrange a trip (there is a charge for all guided excursions, and a minimum charge for very small groups).

During 2005 we led 41 public trips and 4 closed trips; so far during 2006 we have led 61 public trips and 17 closed trips. The total number of participants has increased enormously in comparison with last year.

For a list of planned public trips please see our webpage www.dinosaurisle.com/events.aspx

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School find

As autumn took hold the Isle of Wight was subjected to high winds and stormy seas which scoured away the sands on the local beach, exposing the underlying clays and rocks.

School pupils, and members of the public, who went out on our field trips found themselves faced with numerous exposed dinosaur footcasts; and for a few lucky individuals there were bits of dinosaur bone and coprolite (fossil pooh!).

Common finds from our local beach included limestones full of shells like the bivalve Filosina gregaria and freshwater viviparidsnails; the oyster Aetostreon and the bivalve Trigonia. We even found some belemnites in a place where they rarely survive the pounding sea.

And as usual the ubiquitous flint sponges were collected and compared with the cut and polished sponge fossils in our museum.

On one of our public field trips two members of the public found some large crocodile teeth and a piece of scute (the armour plate from the back of a crocodile).

A teacher from a visiting Milton Keynes school found a centrum from the spine of a small Iguanodon (a plant-eating dinosaur that died near Yaverland about 123 million years ago).

The preserved part of the bone he found is the centrum, the barrel-shaped core of a vertebra.

The fragile neural spine and processes have broken off, leaving the tough centre. This centrum is from a late-dorsal vertebra.

End view of the centrum. (£1 coin for scale.)

Side view of the centrum.

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How can we display some more local

finds?By Steve Hutt

When you walk into your favourite museum do you always want to see the same old displays?

Most regular visitors want change; it’s a problem all museums face and the good news is that Dinosaur Isle is attempting to do something positive about it.

A large walk-in area known as the ‘nerd’s bedroom’ is to be redisplayed with new local fossils and particularly impressive ones from the museum’s collection.

Some fossils will be on loan from local collectors, others from people strolling along the beach and lucky enough to have found an interesting fossil.

We are going to put faces to fossils, photographs of the happy finder, along with their story “I was just walking along at Sandown and saw this black lump sticking out of the beach …”.Should be a good case, come and see it.

Construction of the bases for the display case.

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If you are ever passing through the village of Brighstone take the opportunity to visit the church of St Mary the Virgin and look for the set of three kneelers, two of which depict dinosaurs, the third, the Reverend William Fox. Fox was a curate of the church in the 1860’s and 1870’s. Fox originated from Cumberland and came to the then tiny, isolated village of Brighstone in 1862. He lodged in Myrtle Cottage just a few minutes walk from the church on North Street.

Fox is remembered for his unique contribution to our understanding of British dinosaurs. He has three dinosaurs named after him, Polacanthusfoxii, Hypsilophodon foxii, and Calamospondylus foxii, he is also credited with the discovery of the dinosaur Aristosuchus.

Dinosaur Isle received a small grant from Leader + and the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership which brought together museum, church, school, archivists, artists and Isle of Wight AONB. The purpose of the project was to raise awareness of Fox and his contribution to palaeontology. In parallel it provided a snap-shot of Victorian village life and the continuity of village life through ancestors and buildings.

The children at Brighstone Primary school found out about Fox, the dinosaurs he discovered and local geology. Victorian village life was explored using maps and photographs. Pupils discovered how the village had changed in the previous 120 years. A copy of Fox’s last will and testament contained information about him and his relationships in the village (he had left money to his land-lady). Field trips to the coast to see dinosaur footprint casts were used to reinforce the sense of common ownership of the geological heritage through simple messages such as if people take these away, others will not be able to see and stand where dinosaurs once walked.

After Fox’s death, his collection was acquired by the British Museum. His collecting marked the high point of dinosaur hunting on the Island in Victorian times. The Fox Project was primarily aimed at raising awareness, and for the school provided the basis for cross-curriculum working and looking at the Victorians in a very different light.

If you would like to know more about the Fox Project please contact the museum.

The Fox Project:

Dinosaurs, the church, the school and Victorian village life

on the Isle of Wight.

By Dr. Martin Munt

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Then and now.5 years on.

The Education Room has been filled with new displays and storagecabinets, and continues to be enhanced. The room is in use almost every day by schools and families. When not open to the public it also gets used for training sessions and meetings. The carpet has been hammered by tens of thousands of feet and seen almost every colour of paint thrown at it, but it still survives…

August 2006 was the fifth anniversary of the opening of Dinosaur Isle. It doesn’t seem that long ago but looking at some ‘then’ and ‘now’ photographs shows just how the building has been finished; and has settled down since 2001.

The building grounds have been greatly improved to provide access and off-road parking. New roads and a roundabout were created. An old store was demolished and replaced with a new building to house the mains transformers. Two new car-parks were created, and traffic islands were installed to make the crossings safer.

Inside the building there have been even more changes. Starting with the first floor Education Room …

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Since we opened I have made every effort to track down as many dinosaur lines as possible. Yes – there may be a few things I have missed but we have puzzles, models, lunch boxes, folders, pencils, games, playing cards, kites, painting sets, socks, T shirts, birthday cards, stickers, books……….. and many, many more.I have also tried to incorporate the geological side of the museum so we also stock rocks and minerals, stoneware and a wide range of jewellery.It should be noted though that we do not stock fossils. As a museum we exist to protect our heritage and not sell it.I now have several pages on the web site where quite a few items are listed. At the moment there is no ‘shopping basket’ facility (I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this will happen in the near future), but goods may be reserved by email and purchased over the phone. The web pages are updated regularly. Having said that, stock changes very quickly, so if you can’t see what you are looking for please email me and I will do my best to help.

And now for the evolution of the Dinosaur Isle shop …

By Sue Wilkins

The title says it all really – with luck, you should be able to find all things Dinosaur – and a few extras too.

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The transformation of ‘Pink Iggy’During 2001 bones from a large plant-eating dinosaur from the Isle of Wight were removed from their very small case in the old museum and bought to Dinosaur Isle.

Here they were joined by other bones from the same animal.

Replicas were made of many of the large bones, and more were made to fill the missing gaps.

The whole dinosaur was then carefully mounted on the back wall of Dinosaur Isle.

The real bones are protected behind Perspex panels. The skull and vertebrae are lightweight replicas. Dinosaur skulls are very fragile and it would be difficult to mount it this high up so that it could be seen without a great deal of structural bracing. In addition real fossils are very heavy so the higher bones have to be replicas for safety reasons.

Why is it called ‘Pink Iggy’?

Oxygen-rich iron compounds in the soft sedimentary sandy-mudstones (that the bones were originally found in) have coloured the fossils pink. The dinosaur is called Iguanodon, one of the first dinosaurs to be studied. ‘Iguanodon’ has been shortened to ‘Iggy’by people who collect, and study, their bones.

2001

2006

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Website changes…After the major changes to the website that occurred in 2005, when I took over the management of the content of the site, there have been a number of new changes and additions.

Starting with the HOME page, the Contact Us section was rewritten to make it clearer, and email addresses were added.

The ABOUT US page was completely rewritten, with more text and images. An aerial photograph of the building and a photograph of the original Dinosaur Isle team were added along with a summary of our Community Learning provision. Examples of some of the other services we provide and a set of gallery images (at the request of one of our visitors) were also added. As this newsletter was about to be issued a guide leaflet in French was added as a downloadable document.

The How to get here sub-page was amended to make it easier to navigate. Contact details for Island Coach companies were added at the request of our school visitors.On the VISITING page the opening times were made clearer as was the pricing information. On the Catering sub-page reference to the Golf at the café was also added.

The EVENTS page continues to be regularly updated. The Exhibitions sub-pages have now been revised and we are now thinking about the content for next years summer exhibition.

From the COLLECTIONS & RESEARCH page a new sub-page called LGAP has been added. This will contain information on the new Isle of Wight Local Geodiversity Action Plan as it becomes available. Reference to a sample set of audited geological sites may also be added. Most recently a new sub-page Type and Figured Specimens for the museum’s most important objects has been added and will shortly be populated with details of the master (or type) specimens, and those that have appeared in important scientific journals and research papers.

The EDUCATION page has been rewritten, with a better summary of what we do, with more detailed links to National Curriculum subjects; however there is still more work to do in this area. A Letters from our visitors sub-page has been added and contains a number of extracts from letters sent to us. The Earth’s Timeline sub-page has now become slightly out-of-date as recent research refines our knowledge, and needs to be amended; it is likely to change to a table format with new dates and important events. The Useful information page has recently been rebuilt to allow for easier navigation once more information is uploaded. A number of new word searches have been added and more are to follow. This page will become more of an online Education Resource for the museum.

The SHOP pages have seen an enormous number of items added, along with a printable order form. Sue continues to review and amend these pages as the stock changes.

The LINKS pages continue to grow, and have now been joined by a new page titled Schools, Tourism and Accommodation Partners. This page has been added to serve the requirements of those large groups who have been making enquiries about accommodation during their visit.

The website is www.dinosaurisle.com

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We are now just over 5 years old and Dinosaur Isle has had its most successful year since the opening year. Traditionally museums/attractions peak during the excitement created by the initial opening year then settle down to a plateau which inevitably follows; however as we constantly work to improve the museum it would seem that our visitors are responding.

April and May were the best we have ever had, then came a slow June and July what with the football world cup and long summer days of sunshine. It was with some nervousness that we waited for August to unfold. August is such an important month to us, it is a time when we welcome approximately 30% of our entire years visitors. August in 2005 was wall to wall sunshine except for two days when we welcomed in the region of fifteen hundred people per day.

This year the weather was more indifferent and we had a wonderful month with a constant stream of visitors and our year-on-year figures for August were up 22% reaching a fantastic figure of 22,030 people for the month. Obviously now things have quietened down so planning starts for next years events, however I am confident that we will finish the year ahead of last year with visitor numbers in excess of seventy thousand people.

Dinosaur Isle on Opening Day in August 2001

Summer visitors

byPeter Pusey

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Shop News by Sue Wilkins

Our shop staff continues to slowly evolve. Kerry and Kevin continue their University studies, to be joined now by Alexa. Neil is coming to the end of his degree course, and we have been joined by June.

Alexa Haywood

Alexa took up the post of part time assistant in 2004. When a full time position became available she filled the gap and has been keeping an eye on stock levels since then. During this time she undertook a short course with the Open University. In September she started a course in Psychology at Southampton University and will now be coming back to work for us during the holidays.I must also thank Alexa for coming over to the Island on several weekends at short notice to help us out in times of staff shortages.

Charlotte Brading

Charlotte took her GCSE’s in the summer with excellent results. She will continue working at the weekends and during the holidays whilst taking her ‘A’ levels.

June Whitlock

June is the ‘new girl’, having joined us in November. She has many years of retail experience. Many would have been put off by the words ‘Can you start Monday? – Oh – and by the way –I’m off on annual leave for 2 weeks from Tuesday ……’, but June rose to the challenge! We all extend a warm welcome and hope she will enjoy working with us.

Kevin Ledger

Whilst filling the gaps and helping out at the drop of a hat during the summer holidays, Kevin has also enjoyed success with his band ‘Bastilla’ with whom he played at this years Bestival (the local rock festival).

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WORDSEARCH

Dinosaur Isle Culver Parade Sandown Isle of Wight PO36 8QA www.dinosaurisle.com Excavate these words with our African Dinosaur WORDSEARCH. Find the names of dinosaurs, localities, bits of skeletons and the early hunters who found them. Words go up and down, left to right and diagonally. There are 27 words to find. How many can you find?

P D E S E R T O W O K C S H Z I

V A S N O T I B I A P L A B U N

E F C D M R E B B A H A R I Y A

R R B O N A U N C J A W R Q E R

T O N A U X R A D L L E G G S M

E V W S F R L K L A R W Y U U A

B E E J T R A U G E G P R I C N

R N R Z K S K N F R T U Z C H I

A A N P P S T U O I A J R T O B

L T E B Q B D R A S Y F O U M I

M O R O C C O C O R A O F H I T

T R O N D Y U N N M T U E S M E

D A B E K S I U Z C E R R C U H

P I E G Y P T J E M O R O U S O

F R A A S U J A N E N S C H S B

Q U L M O R I C H A R D T H E O

AFROVENATOR AEGYPTIACUS BAHARIYA BOHETI BIN AMRANI BONE CLAW DESERT EGGS

EGYPT ERNST STROMER (two words) FRAAS JAW MOROCCO OURANOSAURUS RIB RICHARD MARKGRAF (two words)

SKULL SPINOSAURUS SUCHOMIMUS TENDAGURU TIBIA TOOTH VERTEBRA WERNER JANENSCH (two words)

Word Search No. 3 African dinosaurs. Difficulty ● ● ● ○ ○ © Dinosaur Isle, Isle of Wight Council Produced by T.Price, 2006

This word-search was produced to accompany our 2006 exhibition. For this and other word-searches why not visit our webpage www.dinosaurisle.com/info.aspx

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News from elsewhere in the Island Heritage

Service

1

For more information, or a leaflet, contact

Wendy Hodson - Museum Administration Assistant

(01983) 823847

or

Corina Westwood – Assistant Curator –

(01983) 823433

or email museums@iow.gov.uk

Newport Roman VillaNewport Roman VillaCypress RoadNewportPO30 1HE

Tel: (01983) 529720

Why not visit Newport Roman Villa? ‘The Island’s 1700 year old country pile.’ Well preserved remains of a 3rd Century farmhouse complete with such luxuries as under-floor heating, large bath suite and pleasantly decorated dining room.

The Villa has a ‘hands on’ education room with a wide range of available activities. Why not make a mosaic, weave a blanket or put together the pieces of a broken pot? Activity workshops are available for groups of 15 or more. There is also a roman garden and archaeological display charting the Roman occupation of the Isle of Wight.

The Villa is open for groups throughout the year. To find out more, or to make a booking, please phone (01983) 823847

Open to the public from 2nd April to 31st October, Mondays to Saturdays (10am to 4:30pm). Open Sundays July and August only (12pm to 4pm).

www.iow.gov.uk/council/departments/museums

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Museum of Island History

News from elsewhere in the Island Heritage

Service

2

For more details about the Rowlandson exhibition please contact:

JOHN FLETCHERExhibitions OfficerMuseum ServicesCothey BottomWestridgeRydeIsle of WightPO33 1QS

(01983) 814871

The GuildhallHigh StreetNewportIsle of WightPO30 1TY

Discover the history of the Island from the time of the dinosaurs to the present day. The Museum of Island History provides an excellent introduction to the history of the Isle of Wight. The museum uses touch screen computers, microscopes, quizzes and games to interpret the fascinating history of the Isle of Wight.

The museum has a temporary exhibition gallery that is currently showing ’17 Rowlandson paintings’ (until April 2007). Our summer exhibition will explore the prehistoric Island - ‘Life before the Romans’.

The museum is open all year and can offer worksheets and lesson ideas for visiting school groups. To find out more, or to make a booking, please phone (01983) 823847.

Open Monday to Saturday (10am to 5pm) Sunday (11am to 3:30pm).

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Out-of-season schools

accommodation

YMCA Isle of Wight at Winchester House, Shanklin, is a popular accommodation choice for school groups. The main house sleeps 120 across 3 wings in singles, twins and bunkbed dorms. The Lodge sleeps 26 and the Apartment 4. There are 6 lounges and a chapel available for groups to use. We provide staff for your group who can accompany you on your visits and provide evening activities and entertainment.Winchester House is set in a fantastic location -access to sandy Hope Beach is via steps immediately outside.

Telephone: 01489 772215 for further information,or visit the website www.ymca-fg.org

Contact:Emma Corina-LitchfieldArea Director South East Hampshire and Isle of WightYMCA Fairthorne Group

YMCA Isle of Wight Tel: 01983 862441Winchester House Fax: 01983 863513Sandown RoadShanklinPO37 6HUIsle of Wight Part of YMCA Fairthorne Group, charity no. 1090981.

With most of our schools coming from the UK mainland, and further afield it can be difficult to find suitable accommodation for very large groups out of the summer season. To that end we have responded to requests from schools by listing (on our website) sources of information which will assist them in their stay. One of the existing localaccommodation providers for school groups is now seeking to extend their opening season and link with our all-year programme.

Dinosaur Isle aims to provide an all year Educational experience. Field trips can be so much more exciting in the autumn and winter months…

For further information on other accommodation providers who cater for schools please see the webpage

www.dinosaurisle.com/tourism.aspx

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If you have visited us, and have produced a drawing then we may be able to publish it in forthcoming issues. If you are a school teacher, other group leader, or an individual with artistic flair and you wish to submit a picture or photograph then please email it to us at dinosaur@iow.gov.uk (at a high enough resolution to print). Entries may be sent by email but must include an address and phone number. We will put a School name, or individual name against the best entries, but we will not publish your address or phone number, or give the details to any other person. Due to space constraints only a small number of pictures will be reproduced. All work must be original and not infringe on anyone's copyright.

During June we were visited by a number of families taking advantage of the good weather. The Hughes family of Warwickshire kindly allowed us to reproduce some of the drawings they did in the museum.

The dinosaurs were produced by Robert, Tom and Harry. I particularly like the dinosaur cracking open the smaller dinosaur (like a lobster) and ripping out the flesh!

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These are just three of the more colourful of the paintings left for us by our customers this summer.