The USU Prehistoric Museum has been closed due to the Covid-19 epidemic but they do offer lots of information and activities online for community members to enjoy until they are able to reopen. Castle Country Radio was able to visit over the telephone with Curator of Archeology, Dr. Tim Riley who shared some great information about the museum.

“We have an online presence as a website which if you just type in Prehistoric Museum it should come up and you can learn a lot more about us here, you can learn about visiting, you can learn about some of the other things we do, how you can get involved as a volunteer or as a member,” said Dr. Riley. The museum’s volunteer program gives individuals the chance to serve in a variety of capacities like tour guides, docent, lab assistants and other opportunities as needed. To volunteer please call for (435) 613-5756 for Paleontology and/or (435) 613-5290 for Archaeology.

Being a Museum Member gets an individual some great perks like free museum entrance to not only the Prehistoric Museum but also free admission into the Museum of Moab and The John Wesley Powell River History Museum located in Green River. Members will also receive discounts in the museum store, an invitation to member’s only events and annual dinners, plus receive a quarterly newsletter.

Also, they offer a look at some of the big exhibits taking place inside the museum. “Basically, small online exhibits focused on existing permanent exhibits in the museum and we’ve also got some stuff on the temporary exhibits as they travel through,” stated Dr. Riley. The website shares information and details on the Hall of Dinosaurs, Hall of Archaeology, Discovery Area and Museum Store.

“Then we also have a social media presence, we’re on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook. We’re most active on Facebook but we also post to Twitter and Instagram fairly regularly and one thing we are trying to do as we move forward is put on more activities through social media which is a little more flexible than the webpage,” explained Dr. Riley. So far, they have shared a virtual tour of their museum, plus posted a Fossil Q&A Session with members from the Dinosaur National Monument in Jensen, Utah.

They also have some fun activities online for families to enjoy while schools are on dismissal. “So, for example, we have taken our Prehistoric Explorers Booklet you can get when you come into the museum, used to explore the museum and the activities, you don’t have to be at the museum to do, we are putting one page at a time, one today, and we’re also posting some links to some other online resources, specifically educational resources,” said Dr. Riley. A few links that have been offered thus far are a coloring book from BLM-New Mexico and an Earthquakes for Kids activity.