Messel Exhibition
This exhibition is a co-production with the Messel Research and Mammalogy Department of Senckenberg Research Institute,Frankfurt-am-Main.
It gives a comprehensive overview of the amazing biodiversity of the Messel Pit, a perfect window into the Eocene ecosystem.
A representative sample of 25 specimen have been chosen from a vast collection, to offer explanations on the history and the most recent paleontological and biological research of this UNESCO classified site.
In the Messel Pit Fossil Site (Hessen, Germany) sediments of a 45 MYO lake are preserved as oil-shale in a maar structure, an ancient volcanic crater lake. Messel is famous for its extraordinary preserved fossil vertebrates, insects and plants.
One significant aspect of the Messel fossil locality is that complete skeletal specimens are preserved. The skin with hair, scales or feathers are sometimes traced by fossil melanosomes and insects even flash their original coloration.
