Sirindhorn Museum

The name “Sirindhorn” was graciously permitted as the name of the museum by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on 12 December 2006

Dinosaurs are ancient reptiles that lived on land. They became extinct 65 million years ago. Only skeletons and traces, such as footprints, are now found in rock strata in the form of fossils. These dinosaur fossils are important evidence about Earth history, telling us about the evolution of life during the Mesozoic Era. Dinosaurs were the evolutionary descendants of more primitive vertebrates, and rule the Earth before the reign of the mammals. Understanding the origin, evolution, dispersal routes and extinction of dinosaurs in crucially important for us to learn how to adapt ourselves to constant environmental changes that planet Earth undergoes. Since 1976, many fossils of large and small dinosaurs, along with those of contemporary animals and plants, have been discovered in Thailand. The Sirindhorn Museum is the major museum of the Department of Mineral Resources devoted to the storage and display of dinosaur fossils, as well as to research on them. It also acts as a learning center and tourist attraction for the general public.

Background

During more than twenty five years of intensive exploration and research on dinosaurs, the Department of Mineral Resources has discovers over 2,000 bones belonging to several groups of dinosaurs. On the basis of this material, five new dinosaur specimens have so far been described. They are Phuwianggosaurus sirindhornae, Siamosaurus suteethorni, Siamotyrannus isanensis, Isanosauruus attavipachi, and Psittacosaurus sattayaraki. These dinosaurs are important discoveries are increasingly being recognized by both Thai people and foreigners. Many tourists have already visited the Sirindhorn Museum and their number increases every year.

In 1994, a new dinosaur site was discovered at Phu Kum Khao, a small hill in Sahatsakhan District, Kalasin Province. Over 800 skeletal elements have been found there, belonging to at least seven individual from two general of sauropod dinosaurs. One of the specimens is the most complete dinosaur skeleton found to date in Thailand. These sauropod dinosaurs died about 130 million years ago. Their bones are associated with two kinds of theropod dinosaurs teethe and with crocodile, turtle, fish and mollusk fossils, thus strongly suggesting that these sauropods were buried in sediments of a large river. This dinosaur site is now protected under a permanent building which also displays exhibits about the discovery of the site.

The Sirindhorn Museum is an important tourist attraction. It is a well-known dinosaur museum containing new dinosaur genera and species first found in Thailand. These new dinosaurs are important additions to our knowledge of dinosaur diversity during the Mesozoic Era. Moreover, the museum is a research institution, and its beauty attracts large numbers of both Thai and foreign tourists. Thus far, more than 200,000 people have visited the museum, and each passing year adds significantly to this total. The museum has a conservation approach to tourism activities and promotes cooperation with local communities, helping local people to supplement their income by producing and selling souvenirs.

History

1978 – A geological survey team led by Varayudh Suteethorn recognized a dinosaur bone collected by an abbot of Wat Sakkawan at Phu Kum Khao but the source of the bone was not known.

1994, September – The first dinosaur bone found at Phu Kum Khao was discovered by a monk. This bone was exposed as a result of water erosion in a new road cut. This exposure has now become part of the site museum, the fossil having not been moved.

1994, November – The Phu Kum Khao dinosaur site was progressively excavated, opening an area of about 200 square meters. This excavation yielded more than 630 dinosaur bones. These bones belong to seven dinosaurs, and Southeast Asia. This skeleton is that of a plant-eating dinosaur and shows the bones in connection from the neck position. This dinosaur has been named Phuwianggosaurus sirindhornae, the generic name referring to an earlier find from the Phu Wiang dinosaur site in Khon Kaen Province and the specific name being name in honor of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

1995, November – Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn expressed great interest in the Phu Kum Khao dinosaur site and visited the site on 24 november.

1996 – The Department of Mineral Resources built a research center at the Phu Kum Khao dinosaur site. This building has an area of 375 square meters and is used for both storage and research on fossil bones from all over Thailand.

1999 – The Department of Mineral Resources built a new permanent building covering the Phu Kum Khao dinosaur site. This building is now the Prayanvisal Thera Building, named after the Wat Sakkawan abbot who found the first dinosaur bone.

2001 – Phase one of construction of the Sirindhorn Museum building was completed. Phase two, interior decoration, and phase three, exhibitions, were to be completed later.

2005 – Phase two, interior decoration of the museum, was completed.

2007 – Phase three, museum exhibition, was completed.

Museum Directory

The Sirindhorn Museum has three main parts: the dinosaur fossil site museum, the fossil storage and research building, and the permanent museum building. The dinosaur fossil site museum is the in situ fossil site covered with a permanent building which includes a small exhibition area and a small meeting room. The fossils storage and research building is used to temporary store fossils and prepare them prior to transferring them to the permanent museum building. Not at all fossils have yet been transferred to the permanent museum building. The permanent museum building has 8,800 square meters of usable area. This includes service collection, research, and exhibition areas.

The Exhibition Area has eight zones:

Zone 1 : The Universe and the Earth

Zone 2 : Life Begins on Earth

Zone 3 : Paleozoic: The Era of Ancient Life

Zone 4 : Mesozoic: The Era of the Reptiles and Dinosaurs

Zone 5 : Life of Dinosaurs

Zone 6 : Restoring Life of Dinosaurs

Zone 7 : Cenozoic: The Era of Mammals

Zone 8 : The story of Man

The museum has a 500-seat conference room, two executive meeting rooms, and a theater, together with a temporary exhibition room, library, souvenir shop, and canteen. Outside of the museum there are spaces for a dinopark, parking lot, and youth camps.

Research

The Sirindhorn Museum has an important role in research on fossils. The museum staff carries out research on its own and in cooperation with researchers from institutions in Europe, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and China. This research is not confined to dinosaurs. It also covers other vertebrates, including mammals, invertebrates, plants, and trace fossils. The museum has collection rooms of the highest standard, and a fossil preparation laboratory for use by its research staff.

Fossils kept at the Sirindhorn Museum range in size from microscopic pollen grains to very large dinosaur bones. These specimens are scientifically and systematically cared for, with all data recorded in an electronic database. Research results are published in scientific journals and books.

Thai Dinosaurs

Thai dinosaurs, as other dinosaurs elsewhere in the world, lived during the Mesozoic Era, 250 to 65 millions years ago. There were two main groups of dinosaurs, saurichains and ornithischains, and their remains are usually found in terrestrial clastic rocks, such as in sandstones. These fossils include bones, eggs, footprints, coprolites, and gastroliths. Thai dinosaurs include five general and species that were first found in Thailand and were named from the geographical locations where the fossils were found and the pereons who played an important part in their discovery. These five are Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae, Siamonotyrannus isanensis, Siamosaurus suteethorni, Psittacosaurus sattayaraki, and Isanosaurus attavipachi. These dinosaur fossils are preserved in Mesozoic rocks, along with fossil mollusks, fish, turtles, crocodiles, freshwater sharks, pterosaurs and birds.

Interesting Fossil Site of Kalasin Province

The Phu Kum Khao dinosaur site is 29 kilometers north of Kalasin city. Access to the site is via highway 227. About 3 kilometers before Sahatsakhan town, turn right towards Wat Sakkawan. The site is about 800 meters from the intersection.

The Phu Kum Khao dinosaur excavation site has yielded the most completed fossil skeleton of plant-eating dinosaurs in Thailand. Almost the entire skeleton of this animal is preserved. It has been name Phuwiangosaurus sirundhornae. Other fossils at the site are bones of the legs, hips, rips, necks, and tails of not less than seven plant-eating dinosaurs. There are also fossil teeth of several types of plant-eating and meat-eating dinosaurs. Research is going on at the site on another plant-eating dinosaur.

Fossil Site

Phu Faek Dinosaur Tracksite

The Phu Faek dinosaur Tracksite is in the Phu Faek Conservation Forest Park. Access to the site is along route 2042. Turn northward at Huay Phung Districk along route 2102 and 8 kilometers farther a sigh indicates the dinosaur Tracksite. Turn left at the sigh and 4 kilometers to the Lam Huay-Lam Phayang watershed management unit and the Tracksite. The distance along the highway from Kalasin city to the site ia about 62 kilometers.

There are three dinosaur trackways at the site. One track consists of seven footprints that indicate that the dinosaur walked in a northward direction. Another trackway shows two footprints also heading northeastward. The third trackway has three footprints heading northeastward as well. All these footprints are those of three-toed dinosaurs. The footprints have an average length of 45 centimeters and an average width of 40 centimeters. The footprints were made by bipedal dinosaurs and the length of each stride is 110 to 120 centimeters. These dinosaurs were tall, their legs being about 2 meters long, and they were walking slowly.

These footprints indicate that the sandstone that crops out in this area was once a sand beach along the shore of a river. The dinosaur footprints have been preserved probably because the sand beach dried while it remained above water level. Subsequent sediment deposition covered the footprints and eventually the sand containing the footprints was lithified into sandstones. Much later, uplift and erosion have exposed these footprints.

Phu Nam Jun Lepidotes Fish Site

Lao Yai Sub-district, Kuchinarai District.

Phu Nam Jun Lepidotes Fish Site is in the Phu Loay Conservation Forest Park. Access to the site is along highway 2042 to the junction with highway 2291. Turn left at this junction and the site is 7 kilometers farther.

Lepidotes buddhabutrensis is a new species of freshwater fish found in Thailand. This fossil is 30 to 60 centimeters in length and has thick, hard, rhombohedron-shaped scales. It fed on water plants and was one of the dominant fish during the Mesozoic Era. The fossil site was once a large pond where many fish lived, including lungfish and carnivorous fish, such as the 95-centimeter long Isanichthys palustris. After death, rapid burial preserved these fish from destruction by oxidation. Lepidotes buddabutrensis lived about 145 million years ago.

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