Examine remarkable fossil evidence of long-ago events in the Last Impressions gallery.
From 200-million-year-old wave ripples on beach sand to a petrified tree stump, dinosaur footprints, and a giant ammonite, the past is imprinted on all of these gallery specimens.
Star specimens and exhibits
- sedimentary rock shaped by Earth's moving crust and shifting continents
- a calcareous deposit called the Sunday Stone that tells the story of the working lives and hardships of miners in the 1800s
- agate grown in the gas bubbles of molten lava
- lichens that live for 10,000 years
- a fossilised dinosaur vertebra
- and bamboo that grows a metre a day
Explore the galleries with the Museum map
Find out how to get around with the Museum map. There are four zones to discover.
Discover: fossils
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NewsDinosaur fossils reveal how birds got their distinctive walks
New research has revealed how birds changed from rigid raptors to flexible fowl.
20 November 2024 -
Science newsAncient humans feasted on a giant elephant in India over 300,000 years ago
A breakthrough fossil discovery is changing what we know about some of the largest mammals to ever walk the Earth.
15 November 2024 -
Science news‘One of a kind’ fossil from the age of dinosaurs reveals roots of bird intelligence
A remarkable fossil could transform our understanding of how the intelligence of modern birds evolved.
13 November 2024 -
Science newsMolluscs could have been the first animals to venture on land
The story of how animals first set foot out of the water and onto land just became more complex.
7 November 2024
Life recorded in fossils
Explore fossils from the Museum's collection in an online exhibition, a collaboration between the Museum and Google Arts & Culture.