Maastricht walks with Chinese Dinosaurs
I’m standing on Plein 1992, facing the glass panelled façade of Centre Céramique, frozen with fear. There is a huge something walking right towards me and it’s going to crash through the glass wall. Then I realise that the enormous creature has no skin, flesh, or muscles. A sigh escapes from my lips. “This thing can’t walk anymore,” I reassure myself. At the same time a banner catches my eye: China Dino exhibit.
The 26 metre long Mamenchisaurus is the largest of the four Chinese dinosaur fossils currently on display in the city’s spacious cultural centre. It is the first time that they are being exhibited in Europe and people from all across the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and parts of France are flocking to Maastricht to admire the impressive beasts.
“Within the first four weeks we had about 10.000 paying visitors, and around 70.000 people came to see the free part of the exhibit” says Ms. Frédérique Stille, communication officer at Centre Céramique and one of the organisers of the exhibit.
At the Natural History Museum, where the second part of the exhibit is being hosted, palaeontologist Dr. Anne Schulp is witnessing the same public enthusiasm: “With 700 to 800 visitors during the weekends right now, we’re reaching our maximum.”
Cooperation between Maastricht and Beijing
Stille and Schulp have been working for almost eighteen months to prepare the event. Stille explains that China Dino is in fact a spin-off of the Flying Dino exhibit that was held at the Natural History Museum in the summer of 2006. The exceptional feathered dinosaurs and early birds from China shown back then marked the beginning of the cooperation between Beijing and Maastricht.
The director of the Maastricht NHM, Drs Fokeline Dingemans, and her counterpart at the Natural History Museum of Beijing started discussing the possibility of exhibiting some of the bigger Chinese dinosaur fossils in Maastricht.
“Everyone knows the T.rex, so we wanted to show dinosaurs that so far weren’t widely known in Europe,” says Stille. “Also, the NHM in Beijing was undergoing a renovation, so it was an ideal time for the museum to source out some of the fossils.”
Stille further explains that it took about a year to handle matters such as transportation of the fossils, insurances, visa applications for the Chinese partners, fixing the exhibition dates, and financing the entire undertaking. “But luckily all involved parties spoke English, so no Dutch-Chinese interpreter was necessary,” she adds.
Finally at the end of January, 76 large boxes which were shipped by sea in two large containers arrived in Maastricht, filled with gigantic, fragile, irreplaceable 3D dinosaur puzzles. Fortunately the Beijing NHM had also sent six dinosaur experts along with the fossils to piece them back together. “It was one of the conditions of the loan that their own people would set up the fossils. But we were quite happy to go along with this condition because it meant that a huge insurance issue was taken off our hands,” Stille explains.
“It quickly became clear that we couldn’t fit the Chinese dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum,” Stille adds. “But the management of Centre Céramique and the NHM is the same, so we were able to accommodate the bigger fossils at Centre Céramique.”
Face to face with Chinese dinosaurs
Even though the China Dino exhibit is divided between Centre Céramique and the Natural History Museum, both venues seamlessly follow the same style of presentation.
At Centre Céramique
Mamenchisaurus jingyanensis, Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis, Lufengosaurus huenei, and Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus: it took me a few tries to read out loud the full names of the four awe-inspiring dinosaur fossils on display in the entrance hall of Centre Céramique. They were named, like many other fossils, after the location where they first were discovered, in various parts of China.
The Mamenchisaurus, the super-long-neck fossil facing the glass façade dates back to the Late Jurassic, about 150 million years ago. It was a colossus, measuring 26 metres from head to tail and weighing 30.000 kg. Its neck alone spans 11 metres. Believe it or not, the Mamenchisaurus grew that tall and strong on a vegetarian diet only. But even in his group of long-neck dinosaurs it holds the record for the longest neck relative to body size. Thanks to it, the Mamenchisaurus was able to graze leaves too remote for other herbivores. To me the dinosaur looks a lot like a prehistoric elephant: gentle, yet mighty, and much too strong to fall prey to any predator.
The three other giant fossils are standing on the platform on the first floor. The Tsintaosaurus is the youngest one, dating back to the Cretaceous, about 80 million years ago. The fossil spans eight metres and weighs roughly 3.000 kg. It’s propped up on his hind legs, its limbs clawed, and it definitely looks like a predator to me. But no. The Tsintaosaurus belongs to the group of hadrosaurids, who were plant-eating dinosaurs.
Tsintaosaurus fossils have been unearthed in Asia, Russia, and North America. “At first palaeontologists weren’t sure whether they were bipedal or walked on all fours,” explains Schulp. “Now we have found tracks that support both assumptions. Bipedal walk is faster but for grazing walking on all fours was more practical.” For quite some time the large protuberance on its head, that looks a bit like an antenna, was a matter of discussion. Did it really belong there? As it turns out it did, but its function is still a matter of speculation.
Next to it stands the Yangchuanosaurus, a carnivore that roamed Asia about 150 million years ago in the Late Jurassic. Countless pointy teeth, that have lost none of their ferocity over time, are visible in the open jaws of the massive almost one metre long skull. The species was discovered during construction works on the Shangyou dam. Since then more fossils of its kind have been found throughout Asia. Don’t let the resemblance fool you though. In spite of its eight-metre long body, its 2.000 kg of weight and its ferocious looks, the Yangchuanosaurus is not a small Tyrannosaurus. The T.rex lived much later, about 66 million years ago, in America, when the Yangchuanosaurus was long extinct.
The Lufengosaurus, which dates back to the early Jurassic about 200 million years ago, is the oldest of the giant fossils. It’s a six-metre long herbivore that weighed 2.000 kg and could switch between bipedal and four-legged walking. It belongs to the group of prosauropods, which are cousins of the long-neck dinosaurs. What surprises me most is its tiny head which couldn’t have held a brain larger than a child’s fist. “This Lufengosaurus fossil is special,” explains Schulp. “It’s quite exquisitely preserved, with the exact 3D shape of the bones. That’s unusual because of the pressure exerted by the overlying stone layers on the fossils.”
If you look well, there is actually a fifth fossil on display in the entrance hall of Centre Céramique. The Dsungaripterus weii is a bit hidden away and can best be viewed from the first floor of Centre Céramique’s library section. The winged lizard, which is hanging near the head of the Mamenchisaurus, lived in the early Cretaceous, about 140-111 million years ago. It weighed around 10 kg and had a wingspan of 3 metres. It belongs to the group of pterosaurs, which weren’t dinosaurs but flying reptiles feeding on shellfish, crabs, lobsters and snails.
Dinosaurs fossils and climate change
A glass case set into the length of the wall behind the three large fossils on the platform displays an illustrated history of climate change and a number of smaller fossils.
“We assume that the dinosaurs died out because of a drastic climate change,” comments Schulp, “and now we are in a situation of climate change again.” This explains why the organisers not only made a point of including the climate story in the exhibit but also decided to run several readings and workshops about climate change at Centre Céramique.
Climate changes from the past can be studied by taking a closer look at fossils of all kinds. The fossils from the Maastrichtian geological period are ideal for this.
The Maastrichtian stage, which covers a period from approximately 70 to 65 million years ago and is a sub-category of the Cretaceous age, was named after the city of Maastricht because of the many marine fossils that were discovered in the stone layer in the area around Maastricht. “During the Maastrichtian the world was in a greenhouse state. The fossils from that time give us a good idea of how certain mechanisms of an ecosystem respond to climate change,” explains Schulp.
It is worth noting that the entire first part of the exhibit at Centre Céramique is free of charge and accessible to all. Stille explains the decision: “Cultural education should not be exclusive and we want to make it more available to the broad public, not only to people who can afford a ticket.”
More unique fossils and interactive games
The rest of the exhibit at Centre Céramique, for which visitors need to purchase a ticket, presents a number of smaller fossils such as the Parrot-beak dinosaur (Psittacosaurus) as well as dinosaur nests and footprints.
The bipedal Psittacosaurus, who spans about one metre from head to tail and weighed 20 kg, lived 130 million years ago in the early Cretaceous in what is now China, eastern Russia, Mongolia, and Thailand. It was an herbivore and belongs to the group of ceratopsians, which all had horns or other protuberances on their heads. Usually ceratopsians walked on all fours and were much bigger than the parrot-beak dinosaur. Despite its bird-like snout and the discovery of what appears to be feathers or fluff on its back and tail the parrot-beak dinosaur was not a bird.
A remarkable item not to be missed is an entire nest of very young Psittacosaurus dinosaurs, which has been prepared in Beijing for the past few months and is now exhibited for the first time at Centre Céramique.
Schulp explains that it is extremely rare to find a nest where the embryos were just about to hatch or had just hatched: “The dinosaur embryos were fragile and their bones hadn’t hardened out yet, so they are scarcely preserved.”
Visitors can also admire a nest of unhatched dinosaur eggs. Schulp explains how the eggs are classified: “Usually we cannot match the eggs to a type of dinosaur, so they are described by how far the pores are set on the egg shell, how many pores there are, and the size of the eggs.”
Several interactive games form another highlight of the exhibit and seem to be equally popular among children and adults. You can check for instance how long a dinosaur could feed on you by stepping into a huge feeding through, or measure whether you’re strong enough to pull a dinosaur on a leash, or (try to) escape from a T.rex on a bicycle.
As for Stille, her favourite game is the timetravel globe, which allows you to travel as far as 250 million years back in time and observe not only the movements of the continents but also see when which part of the earth was covered with water or ice caps.
At the Natural History Museum
The story continues on the other side of the Meuse river at the Natural History Museum (NHM), where the link to the Dutch dinosaur is established.
Only a few and scattered dinosaur bones have been discovered in the Netherlands. They seem to bear striking similarities however with the fossils of the Amurosaurus, a dinosaur found along the river Amur, on the Chinese Russian border, and with the Chinese Tsintaosaurus.
Because of this close resemblance, both the Amurosaurus and the Tsintaosaurus can help Dutch palaeontologists gain more insight into the “Dutch dinosaur”: what it looked like, how it walked, how it must have lived.
As research continues and more fossils are found, the skeleton of the Dutch dinosaur will have a chance to be adapted and hopefully completed.
Schulp explains further that the Asian dinosaurs do not fascinate palaeontologists only: “German scientists from the University of Bonn came to the exhibit because they were interested in specific details of the fossils. The University of Bonn is doing a lot of work in biomechanics and can learn a lot from the dinosaurs’ fossils. They are currently trying to find out if it’s possible to get a research cooperation with the Beijing NHM.”
The rest of the NHM collection focuses on the local marine fossils from the Maastrichtian age. Without a doubt the most spectacular fossil is that of the nearly complete Mosasaur, which faces you with its jaws wide open, ready to take a good chunk out of you. But don’t be fooled by its name: the big marine reptile was not a dinosaur. “Dinosaurs were land animals,” Schulp explains.
Looking towards China
The China Dino exhibit is part of a larger programme of activities in Maastricht around Chinese culture and art. Earlier in February, the Chinese Dance theatre was invited to perform at Maastricht’s congress centre. There will also be a Chinese Film Festival from April 28 till May 25 at Maastricht’s Lumière cinema, and several workshops for schoolchildren at Centre Céramique.
In the town of Kerkrade, to the east of Maastricht, the Industrion museum will hold a large exhibit this summer about scientific, technological and social developments in China over the past 7000 years. “Discover China” will feature objects from the Chinese Science and Technology Museum in Beijing.
But the cooperation between Maastricht and Beijing is not only a one way street exchange. Schulp elaborates: “China has the grand plan of creating 1000 new museums within the next couple of years and has welcomed our advice on the approach to Museology”. Museology covers many aspects, from the role a museum can play in its region to the way objects are presented to the public. “Where our approach could differ from many other museums may be in the layering of information,” Schulp explains. “You can walk through the exhibit and learn about what is going on, without being drowned in information. The information is there, on a second layer, for everyone who wants to know it.”
For the city of Maastricht, the China Dino exhibit undoubtedly represents a golden opportunity to enhance its position in the race to become Europe’s cultural capital in 2018. It allows to “show what we can do on a cultural level,” Stille says.
Intrigued? Come fast to Maastricht!
At the end of April the Chinese puzzle masters will travel back to Maastricht to take the fossils apart again and prepare them for the long journey back to Beijing. “Berlin and Paris also wanted to host the fossils but I believe there was a space problem,” Stille explains.
The hall at Centre Céramique will look terribly empty after their departure. Fortunately Schulp has a few words of consolation for the dinosaur lovers among us: “Dinosaurs are a hugely successful group from an evolutionary point of view. In a manner of speaking, they are still around today. We only call them birds now.”
By Sina Spohr
Sina Spohr was born in Berlin, Germany. She is now a third year Bachelor student at University College Maastricht and focuses on Psychology.
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