Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP
Urweltmuseum Geoskop (Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP) .jpg
Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP at Lichtenberg Castle
Data
place Lichtenberg Castle (Palatinate)
Art
Natural History Museum
opening 08/28/1998
Website

The Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP is a natural history museum on the geological history of the Palatinate at Lichtenberg Castle near Thallichtenberg, near the West Palatinate district town of Kusel . As a geoscientific branch of the Palatinate Museum for Natural History in Bad Dürkheim , it has been the largest information center on the geology of this region since it opened in 1998.

The Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP is a municipal museum. It is sponsored by the Palatinate Museum for Natural History - POLLICHIA Museum. The financial responsibility is shared by the Pfalz district association , the Kusel district and POLLICHIA , the Rhineland-Palatinate association for nature research and conservation.

The word " primeval world " in the museum name makes it clear that the museum is concerned with the geological past. The addition to the name “GEOSKOP” contains two stems of Greek origin, namely “ geo ” (German: earth) and “ skop ” (German: see, look into, look at). The idea of ​​the museum planners was to create an institution at Lichtenberg Castle in which one can “look into the earth”, that is, symbolically into the past . The soil in the Palatinate Uplands and the rocks that emerge are extremely rich in fossils and document a diverse continental ecosystem that is almost 290 to 300 million years old and has a unique quality worldwide.

The museum logo shows the stylized " Uramphib " Archegosaurus , a character fossil of the Palatinate Rotliegend .

Logo of the GEOSKOP
Museum logo of the GEOSKOP

location

Castle plan of Lichtenberg Castle (Pfalz)
Simplified castle plan of Lichtenberg Castle (Pfalz) with the location of the GEOSKOP.

The primeval world museum GEOSKOP is located at 374  m above sea level. NHN ( ⊙ ). It is located in Lichtenberg Castle , a late Romanesque complex in the heart of the Palatinate Uplands , which is now used for cultural tourism. With a length of 425 meters, the castle is the largest castle in the Palatinate and one of the largest castle complexes in Germany. Located between the Upper and Lower Castle, the GEOSKOP is a post-modern museum building within a building ensemble from over 800 years of European building history. The modern architecture of the museum building on the historically grown castle had initially led to controversial discussions. Most critics have now reconciled themselves with the building and its location.

Exhibitions

Permanent exhibition area Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP
Showcases with 300 million year old original fossils from the Palatinate Uplands in the permanent exhibition in the GEOSKOP primeval world museum.

The GEOSKOP has around 400 square meters of exhibition space, which is spread over two floors. On the upper floor there is a museum ticket office and information stand, an area for regularly changing special exhibitions and several showcases on general geology and regional mining history. One of the most famous exhibits is the Krähenberger meteorite that fell on the Sickinger Höhe in 1869 .

The basement houses the permanent exhibition, which is exclusively dedicated to the living world and the landscape of the Palatinate around 290 to 300 million years ago at the end of the Carboniferous and in the early Permian. Unique original fossils from the region, detailed large dioramas and a display preparation make the prehistoric Palatinate and its exploration impressively tangible for visitors.

Exhibition background

Large dioramas in the GEOSKOP
Large dioramas as an illustration of the three fossilized habitats of the Palatinate prehistoric times - lake, bank zone and forest - in the permanent exhibition in the prehistoric museum GEOSKOP.

In the late geological era around 300 million years ago, the area of ​​today's Palatinate was almost 5000 kilometers further south on the equator, roughly where Central Africa is currently located. The prehistoric Palatinate was part of a huge mountain depression ( Saar-Nahe basin ) within the Variscan Mountains with large rivers and lakes. A warm and humid climate prevailed throughout with a marked alternation of rainy and dry seasons ( monsoons ). Although there was no grass yet, the landscape was covered with thick vegetation. In the swampy lowlands, on the banks of rivers and lakes, there were wild moss plants , horsetail and ferns , which made up both the herbaceous undergrowth and trees up to several tens of meters high. Drier locations were populated by Nacktsamern with fern-like leaves, ancient ginkgo plants and various conifers such as cordaites and conifers . Giant millipedes , large dragonflies and a wide variety of cockroaches lived in the tropical forests . From today's perspective, the rather exotic inhabitants of the rivers and lakes of that time include sponges , jellyfish , lungfish , coelacanth and up to three and a half meters long freshwater sharks from the group of barbed sharks . The abundance of fish in the waters provided an ideal nutritional basis for small and large- sized armored pits . A diverse land vertebrate fauna with dorsal lizards or sphenacodontids was found in open areas and in the vegetation belts.

Fossils from the Carboniferous and Permian in the Saar-Nahe region have been known for more than 250 years. Until the opening of the GEOSKOP in 1998, however, there was not a single institution that had made the region's extraordinary geological heritage as a whole accessible to the public.

Collections

The museum's geoscientific collections currently include around 15,000 rocks , minerals and fossils . These are stored in the GEOSKOP's magazine and in an external warehouse. The collections are based on old POLLICHIA holdings (taken over from the Palatinate Museum for Natural History - POLLICHIA Museum Bad Dürkheim). The collections are growing continuously thanks to donations of objects and diverse research activities by the museum's scientific staff. The GEOSKOP's collection focuses on objects from the Carboniferous and Permian of the Saar-Nahe basin , Ice Age mammals from the Palatinate and trace fossils of ancient primeval saurians around the world. Rotliegend fossils represent the main collection area and comprise a good 90% of all existing paleontological specimens. The collections at the GEOSKOP are a unique archive for the reconstruction of the geological and life history of the Palatinate and adjacent areas and offer a substantial basis for current and future geological-paleontological research. The GEOSKOP also houses the geoscientific reference library of the Pfalzmuseum .

Venue

Special exhibition GEOSKOP
Special exhibition on the topic of coelacanth 2016 in the Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP.

The Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP sees itself as a natural history information center with a geoscientific focus for people of all ages. The institution tries to meet this requirement through thematically diverse, regularly changing special exhibitions (between 1998 and 2020, 28 special exhibitions were shown in the GEOSKOP, some of which were specially developed for the GEOSKOP), the range of specialist lectures and guided tours, guided hikes and extracurricular courses . The museum's annual program includes an average of around 50 fixed events (overnight stays in the Urweltmuseum for children, family and museum get-togethers, Terra Magica - the scientific forum of the Urweltmuseum, research workshop for people aged 5 and over during the school holidays, advanced training seminars and museum action days). There are also individually bookable events organized by the research workshop for kindergartens, schools and adult groups, children's birthday parties and a three-day school trip program in cooperation with the Thallichtenberg Youth Hostel .

List of special exhibition topics (selection)

  • Ice Age Animals (2014-2015)
  • Sharks and rays - a fascination for millions of years (2015-2016)
  • Living primeval times - the coelacanth or how fish learned to walk (2016)
  • Crystal Magic - Hidden Magic of Dark Tourmalines (2016-2017)
  • Longing for the jungle - research-art-fascination (2017)
  • Mammoths - Ice Age Icons (2017-2018)
  • Petrified Weather (2019-2020)

In 2014, GEOSKOP received the environmental award of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate for the research workshop project for people aged 5 and over , which is subtitled 25 years of environmental education at Lichtenberg Castle .

research

Overview of the archaeological finds from the Palatinate near Kusel
Overview of the Ursaurierfunde from the Palatinate region near Kusel with A . Skeleton of the trimer orachid-like dinosaur Trypangognathus remigiusbergensis Schoch & Voigt, 2019; B . Skull of an as yet undetermined eryopid Temnospodylers; C . Skull of a diadectomorph; D Postcranial remains of the edaphosaurid "pelycosaur" Remigiomontanus robustus Spindler et al., 2020; E . Fragment from the left lower jaw of the sphenacodontid "pelycosaur" Cryptovenator hirschbergeri Fröbisch et al., 2011. (Plate from Voigt et al. 2019)

In addition to an intensive exchange with collectors and scientifically ambitious laypeople, the museum actively participates in the tasks of geological monument preservation in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and maintains scientific collaborations with a large number of museums , universities and authorities in Germany and abroad. The GEOSKOP is certified as a research museum by the German Research Foundation . The museum's scientific staff looks after interns from schools and universities as well as qualification papers from students, doctoral students and postdocs. Scientific excavations on behalf of the monument conservation authorities are carried out with the participation of trained volunteers.

Initiated by the first finds of Young Paleozoic terrestrial vertebrates in 2008 and 2013, GEOSKOP has been carrying out systematic and continuous scientific excavations on the nearby Remigiusberg near Kusel since 2015. So far, at least 6 different primeval dinosaurs that are unique in Europe (e.g. Cryptovenator , Trypanognathus , Remigiomontanus ) have been recovered and identified. These include the oldest known reptiles in Germany and the second oldest in Europe. The similarities of the Kuseler tetrapod fauna with fossils from the Lower Permian of Thuringia ( Bromacker ) and North America are striking .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://burglichtenberg-pfalz.de/museen/urweltmuseum-geoskop.html
  2. ^ Future of the Palatinate Museum secured - District Association Palatinate. Accessed April 9, 2020 (German).
  3. ↑ Sebastian Voigt: A country with a wealth of stones - Kusel and its natural resources . In: Westrichkalender 2018 . Kusel 2018, p. 169-182 .
  4. ^ Dieter Schweiss: GEOSKOP - Urweltmuseum Burg Lichtenberg . In: Westrichkalender 1999 . Kusel 1999, p. 23-43 .
  5. ↑ a b c Thomas Schindler, Ulrich H. Heidtke: coal sumps, lakes and semi-deserts. Documents from a 300 million year old living world between Saarbrücken and Mainz . In: POLLICHIA special publication . No. 10 . POLLICHIA self-published, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 2007, ISBN 3-925754-51-2 , p. 1-316 .
  6. ↑ Map service of the landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatinate nature conservation administration (LANIS map) ( notes )
  7. ↑ a b c d Sebastian Voigt: 20 years GEOSKOP: On the history of the Urweltmuseum at Lichtenberg Castle (Palatinate) . In: Westrichkalender 2019 . Kusel 2019, p. 109-120 .
  8. ↑ Dieter Uhl, Sebastian Voigt: A fossil plate unique in the world and its recovery . In: Michael Geiger, Hans-Wolfgang Helb (Hrsg.): POLLICHIA special publication . No. 23 . POLLICHIA self-published, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 2015, p. 54-55 .
  9. ↑ Sebastian Voigt, Thomas Schindler, Hubert Thum, Jan Fischer: Field trip: Pennsylvanian-Permian of the Saar-Nahe Basin, SW Germany . In: Cologne Forum for Geology and Paleontology . tape 24 . Cologne 2019, ISBN 978-3-934027-27-5 , pp. 217-250 .
  10. ↑ Sebastian Voigt, Jan Fischer: The collections in the Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP . In: Michael Geiger, Hans-Wolfgang Helb (Hrsg.): POLLICHIA special publication . No. 23 . POLLICHIA self-published, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 2015, p. 200-201 .
  11. ↑ Sebastian Voigt: Lichtenberg Castle: the GEOSKOP primeval world museum . In: Michael Geiger (Ed.): The Palatinate. Geography on site . Verlag Pfältzische Landeskunde, Landau 2013, ISBN 978-3-9812974-2-3 , p. 348-349 .
  12. ^ Sebastian Voigt, Jan Fischer: Thallichtenberg: Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP . In: Michael Geiger (Ed.): Discover the landscapes of the Palatinate. Geo tours for families . Verlag Pfälzische Landeskunde, Landau 2018, ISBN 978-3-9812974-5-4 , p. 98-101 .
  13. ^ Frank Wieland, Jan Fischer: Bad Dürkheim: Palatinate Museum for Natural History POLLICHIA Museum . In: Michael Geiger (Ed.): Discover the landscapes of the Palatinate. Geo tours for families . Verlag Pfälzische Landeskunde, Landau 2018, ISBN 978-3-9812974-5-4 , p. 218-219 .
  14. ↑ Jan Fischer, Peter Blaß: Ice Age animal remains from the Kusel district and the surrounding area . In: Westrichkalender 2019 . Kusel 2019, p. 159-172 .
  15. ^ Sebastian Voigt: Looking for traces in the original Palatinate . In: Michael Geiger, Hans-Wolfgang Helb (Hrsg.): POLLICHIA special publication . No. 23 . POLLICHIA self-published, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 2015, p. 56-57 .
  16. ^ Sebastian Voigt, Jan Fischer: Thallichtenberg: POLLICHIA Geoscience Collection at the Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP, Thallichtenberg (Germany) . In: Lothar A. Beck, Ulrich Joger (Ed.): Paleontological Collections of Germany, Austria and Switzerland . Springer, 2018, ISBN 978-3-319-77400-8 , pp. 499-504 .
  17. ↑ a b c d Annual report 2016-2017 . In: Zweckverband Pfalzmuseum für Naturkunde (Ed.): Perspektiven aus dem Pfalzmuseum . No. 7 . Bad Dürkheim 2018, p. 1-90 .
  18. ↑ a b Annual Report 2013-2015 . In: Zweckverband Pfalzmuseum für Naturkunde (Ed.): Perspektiven aus dem Pfalzmuseum . No. 6 . Bad Dürkheim 2016, p. 1-83 .
  19. ↑ Umweltpreis 2014. pfalzmuseum.de, accessed on December 2, 2015 .
  20. ↑ Dieter Schweiss: Cryptovenator hirschbergeri - a chance find of extraordinary importance . In: Westrichkalender 2012 . Kusel 2012, p. 140-144 .
  21. ↑ Sebastian Voigt, Jan Fischer, Thomas Bach: GEOSKOP contains fossil tetrapods from the Remigiusberg . In: POLLICHIA courier . tape 30 , no. 2 , 2014, p. 38-40 .
  22. ↑ Jörg Fröbisch, Rainer R. Schoch, Johannes Müller, Thomas Schindler, Dieter Schweiss: A New Basal Sphenacodontid Synapsid from the Late Carboniferous of the Saar-Nahe Basin, Germany . In: Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . tape 56 , no. 1 , 2011, p. 113-120 .
  23. ^ Rainer R. Schoch, Sebastian Voigt: A dvinosaurian temnospondyl from the Carboniferous-Permian boundary of Germany sheds light on dvinosaurian phylogeny and distribution . In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . tape 39 , no. 1 , 2019, p. e1577874 .
  24. ^ Frederik Spindler, Sebastian Voigt, Jan Fischer: Edaphosauridae (Synapsida, Eupelycosauria) from Europe and their relationship to North American representatives . In: PalZ . tape 94 , no. 1 , 2020, p. 125-153 .
  25. ^ A b Sebastian Voigt, Jan Fischer, Thomas Schindler, Larry F. Rinehart, Elena Peter: Carboniferous-Permian tetrapods of North-American affinity in the Saar-Nahe Basin, SW Germany . In: Cologne Forum for Geology and Paleontology . tape 23 . Cologne 2019, ISBN 978-3-934027-26-8 , pp. 323-324 .
  26. ↑ Sebastian Voigt, Jan Fischer, Thomas Schindler, Michael Wuttke, Frederik Spindler, Larry F. Rinehart: On a potential fossil hotspot for Pennsylvanian - Permian non-aquatic vertebrates in Central Europe . In: Freiberg research books . C 548. Freiberg 2014, p. 39-44 .

Coordinates: 49 ° 33 ′ 19.6 ″  N , 7 ° 21 ′ 17.7 ″  E