Special Report

Beyond Dinosaurs: The Secrets of Earth's Past

From the formation of Earth through the changing climates and creatures of the past, the Smithsonian's Hall of Fossils explores our planet's Deep Time. Smithsonian Magazine shares stories about the hall, along with the latest news about ancient creatures.

When visitors step into the new hall, they’re welcomed by ice-age creatures like the woolly mammoth.

Gary Mulcahey, Smithsonian Institution

Inside the Hall

Towering over the Fossil Hall is the plant-eating sauropod <em>Diplodocus,</em> which has been on display since 1931 and now is posed with tail in the air.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Amid All the Fossils, Smithsonian's New Dinosaur Exhibition Tells the Complex Story of Life

“In order to interpret the past,

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Meet the Master Muralist Who Inspired Today's Generation of Paleoartists

The sequoia tree slab is an invitation to begin thinking about a vast timescale that includes everything from fossils of armored amoebas to the great <em>Tyrannosaurus rex</em>.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

A 16-Million-Year-Old Tree Tells a Deep Story of the Passage of Time

Dinosaur News

This year's list includes Emergency Quarters, The Iguanodon's Horn and Ernő Rubik and His Magic Cube.

The Ten Best Children's Books of 2024

Paleontologists made discoveries about a wide variety of dinosaurs over the past 12 months.

The Top Ten Dinosaur Discoveries of 2024

The Stegosaurus named Apex is on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

You Can Now See Apex, the World's Most Expensive Dinosaur Fossil, on Display at a New York City Museum

An artist's depiction of two sauropodomorphs in a wet Early Jurassic environment, eating the newly evolved plants.

The Secret to the Rise of Dinosaurs Could Be Hidden in an Unlikely Place: Their Poop

Alexa Robles-Gil

An illustration of two Skiphosoura bavarica in flight shows how the reptiles might have appeared in Jurassic skies.

Paleontologists Discover a New Pterosaur, Filling a Key Gap on the Evolutionary Timeline for These Flying Reptiles

Margherita Bassi

Ancient Earth

The Irish elk, or Megaloceros giganteus, ranged across northern Eurasia from Siberia to Ireland and shed its giant antlers every year. It is on display in the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils—Deep Time at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

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Biggest. Antlers. Ever. Meet the Irish Elk

Illustration from the graphic novel 'Martina and the Bridge of Time' by Aaron O'Dea and Ian Cooke Tapia.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Time Travel Into Panama's Deep History With This Richly Illustrated New Graphic Novel

Artist's impression of the Chicxulub impact.

After the Dinosaur-Killing Impact, Soot Played a Remarkable Role in Extinction

Nola Taylor Redd

The list covers findings in biology, justice and human rights, the environment, and more.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Fifty Things We’ve Learned About the Earth Since the First Earth Day

Smithsonian magazine

Stromatolites at Lake Thetis, Western Australia

Why It’s So Difficult to Find Earth’s Earliest Life