Carnegie Museum of Natural History

One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

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Ancient Owl Drawing

ancient owl drawing

by Patrick McShea

Could you finger-paint a more detailed owl than the one pictured above? In classes about owls at Carnegie Museum of Natural History students always answer with an enthusiastic “Yes.”

The question is a ruse, a simple trick to direct listeners to consider which features they would illustrate, or perhaps even exaggerate, to fashion a recognizable owl.

Any thoughts of competitive art-making subside when background information about the image is supplied. The owl portrait, which measures just over 18 inches in height, was scraped into the soft rock surface of a cave wall in southern France more than 30,000 years ago. Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave, which was discovered in 1994 and named a UNESCO World Heritage site a decade later, contains more than 1,000 ancient images, most of which are animal depictions.

Before the owl lesson moves on from image to object, and the close examination of feathers, skulls, and study skins, some consideration is given to all that separates us from the anonymous artist. We easily recognize the cluster of ancient rock scrapes as an owl, but were the scraper to magically appear, that person would comprehend little of our world, particularly the electronic devices by which the cave art is increasingly shared.

Patrick McShea works in the Education and Visitor Experience department of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

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The Ongoing Question of Trophy Hunting

Teddy Roosevelt standing with a dead elephant
Teddy Roosevelt in 1909 on a safari that helped popularize the activity. Photo: Library of Congress

by Eric Dorfman

After the infamous case of the untimely death of the beloved Cecil the lion, natural history museums have become even more careful than before about demonstrating the provenance of the specimens they use for research and display. Big game hunting can be viewed with such distaste by members of the museum-going public that its display can be somewhat controversial. For those of us in the industry, it presents a conundrum of messaging, not least because the topic of big game hunting is highly nuanced and has many benefits to both wilderness landscape and the local communities that both utilize and (potentially) protect the land.

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Ancient Egyptian stela

painted Egyptian limestone

The inscription on this ancient Egyptian stela, or painted limestone, says that this offering was made by
Wennefer, son of Paiwenhor, and dedicated to Osiris. It’s now on display at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.

(Photo by Hayley Pontia)

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Artist in residence

Study skins of birds with their drawings

Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s artist in residence Ashley Cecil brought these study skins from our collection back to life with her drawings that she’ll later paint in full color.  These six species of birds are often injured or killed when they collide with glass windows in urban areas where buildings and structures invade their flight space.

Carnegie Museum of Natural History is one of eight organizations who have joined the partnership BirdSafe Pittsburgh,which works to research and reduce bird-glass collisions in urban communities.

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A Dino in a ‘Death Pose’

Camarasaurus dinosaur skeleton

This immature Camarasaurus’ uncomfortable stance isn’t caused by a crick in his long neck. It was discovered in what paleontologists call the “death pose.” Many dinosaur skeletons like this one are found with their neck arching back dramatically towards the tail. This specimen in Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Dinosaurs in Their Time is displayed almost exactly as it was discovered.

The death pose may have been caused by the dinosaur’s final thrashing movements before it died. Scientists note that this pose is only seen in animals with high metabolic rates, suggesting that dinosaurs such as Camarasaurus may have been active creatures.