Kirby Siber, Director of the Saurier Museum in Zurich, Switzerland, recently displayed three of his Howe-Stephens Quarry dinosaur mounts in Shell, Wyoming, including “Big Al Two”, the most complete Allosaurus specimen in existence.

These dinosaurs were collected from the world-famous Howe Quarry site on the outskirts of Shell, Wyoming, and then shipped to Switzerland for preparation.

The purpose of this exhibit was to emphasize the need for the proposed Bighorn Basin GeoScience Center in the Shell area so that we can conserve and display our natural resources in an appropriate setting.

The northern Bighorn Basin of Wyoming contains extensively documented fossil deposits dating 550 million years ago (Cambrian Period) to the present. These include world famous localities with extensive fossil deposits that contain dinosaur bones, eggshells and trackways, as well as primitive mammal fossils. These deposits are located on privately held land as well as on state and federal land.

Major fossil discoveries have been and are currently being removed from this part of the Bighorn Basin because suitable storage and display facilities do not exist in the area.

Professional scientists, including world famous geologists, paleontologists and anthropologists, have conducted research activities in this area for over 100 years. These research activities are only loosely coordinated among entities, and thus the rich natural resources of the area remain relatively unknown to the people of Wyoming. More importantly, the relationship of these resources and the Bighorn Basin remains “disconnected” in the minds of the world.

This website will be updated periodically to reflect progress and describe how you and other interested visitors to this site can be active participants and support this endeavor. Please click here for a listing of additional activities in the local area.