Phu Wiang Dinosaur Museum is a geological museum mainly exhibited the story about fossils. It is under administration of the Department of Mineral Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Royal Thai Government situated in the Khok Sanambin public area with an area of 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) in Tambon Nai Muang, Wiang Kao district

Amphoe Wiang Kao

Wiang Kao is a district of Khon Kaen Province, northeastern Thailand.-History:The minor district was created by splitting 3 tambon from Phu Wiang district. Its creation became effective on May 1 2006....

, Khon Kaen province

Khon Kaen Province

-History:The first city of the area was established in 1783 when Rajakruluang settled there with 330 people. King Rama I made Rajakruluang the first governor of the area when establishing tighter connections with the Isan area. The main city was moved six times until in 1879 it reached its modern...

 in the northeastern region of Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

. The museum was constructed with a budget from the Tourism Authority of Thailand under looking after of the Department of Mineral Resources. It has been open to public since 2001.

Thailand’s first dinosaur discovery

According to the year 1970, the US Geological Survey had conducted a mineral exploration in Phu Wiang area of Khon Kaen province and discovered a type of uranium ore, coffinite

Coffinite

Coffinite is a uranium-bearing silicate mineral with formula: U1-x4x.It occurs as black incrustations, dark to pale-brown in thin section. It has a grayish black streak. It has a brittle to conchoidal fracture. The hardness of coffinite is between 5 and 6.It was first described in 1954 for an...

, in association with copper ores, azurite

Azurite

Azurite is a soft, deep blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. It is also known as Chessylite after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France...

 and malachite

Malachite

Malachite is a copper carbonate mineral, with the formula Cu2CO32. This green-colored mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses. Individual crystals are rare but do occur as slender to acicular prisms...

, giving rise to the International Atomic Energy Agency

International Atomic Energy Agency

The International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957...

 (IAEA) had later joined. Between 1975 and 1980, the Department of Mineral Resources had conducted a detail drilling program and in 1976 Sutham Yaemniyom, a geologist, discovered a piece of bone on a streambed, Huai Pratoo Teema, of which was later identified as a distal part of left femur of a sauropod dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

 (a large plant-eating dinosaur walking with 4 legs with long neck and long tail) regarding as the first dinosaur discovery of Thailand and leading to enthusiastic exploration and research so far.

Expedition and research

Since 1976, the Department of Mineral Resources with Thai-French Paleontological Project had continuously investigated the dinosaurs in the Phu Wiang mountains. The project found so many vertebrae, teeth, and footprints of the dinosaurs mainly from sandstone of Early Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

 Sao Khua Formation

Sao Khua Formation

The Sao Khua Formation is a middle member of the Khorat Group. It consists of an alteration of grayish-reddish brown siltstone and clay, and pale red to yellowish-gray, fine to medium-grained sandstone. Rare pale red to light gray conglomerates, containing carbonate pebbles, are also characteristic...

 (about 130 million years old) including sauropod and theropod with wide range of sizes from a hen up to a large dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

 with about 15 meters long. These finds have excited Thai people to make visiting the dinosaur sites as well as Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn

Maha Chakri Sirindhorn

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn is the second daughter of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thais commonly refer to her as Phra Thep, meaning "princess angel." Because her title in Thai is the female equivalent of the title held by her brother, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, she is informally referred...

 who visited the site no. 2 on the 3rd of November 1989. Her Royal Highness also visited the second time at the site no. 3 and the Phu Wiang Dinosaur Museum with the committees of the Prince Mahidol International Award, Prince Mahidol Award Foundation under the royal patronage on 25 October 2008.

Site development

Since the Phu Wiang National Park

Phu Wiang National Park

Phu Wiang National Park is located in Phu Wiang District, Khon Kaen Province, northeastern Thailand. It is best known for its numerous dinosaur bone archaeological sites, The park is one of the world's largest dinosaur graveyards. In 1996, the remains of Siamotyrannus isanensis, a new family of...

 has been declared in 1991, Khon Kaen province, Phu Wiang district, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Department of Mineral Resources, and other government agencies saw important of the dinosaur sites in the national park. After that the Tourism Authority of Thailand had been allocated a budget to developing four dinosaur sites including site 1, site 2, site 3, and site 9 by constructing small buildings covering the sites to protecting the dinosaur bones from disturbances together with walking trails connecting the sites.

Museum origin

Discoveries the dinosaurs on the Phu Wiang mountains was regarded as important discoveries that made much reputation to the Phu Wiang mountains especially the sauropod dinosaur namely Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae named after Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn that Thais and foreigners talk about widely. Some government agencies agree that it had appropriate to build the Phu Wiang Dinosaur Museum and chose the Khok Sanambin public area with an area of 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) as the place of construction with a budget from the Tourism Authority of Thailand with usage space of 5,500 square meters. The Department of Mineral Resources had been received responsibility in looking after and administration by doing permanent exhibition and opened to public in 2001.

Museum composition

The Phu Wiang Dinosaur Museum has composition in versatile activities including research and investigation section, fossil replication and conservation, fossil collection house, library, permanent exhibition, administration office, and service space such as canteen, souvenir shop, snack and drinks shop, car parking space, and 140-people capacity auditorium. The Phu Wiang Dinosaur Museum is a geological learning source participating various pupils and students from many educational institutes and other agencies such as children learning promotion foundation. The museum has opportunity in welcoming many visitors from both Thais and foreigners.

Dinosaurs from Phu Wiang

• Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae
• Siamosaurus suteethorni
• Siamotyrannus isanensis
• Kinnareemimus khonkaenensis
• Compsognathus
  Compsognathus
  Compsognathus was a small, bipedal, carnivorous theropod dinosaur. The animal was the size of a turkey and lived around 150 million years ago, the early Tithonian stage of the late Jurassic Period, in what is now Europe. Paleontologists have found two well-preserved fossils, one in Germany...
  
  
• Phu Wiang dinosaur footprints

Accessibility

The word “Phu Wiang” in the name of the museum is resulted from the museum used to be located in the Phu Wiang district, though since 2006 it is located in the newly established Wiang Kao district. It is about 80 kilometers to the west from the province capital Khon Kaen.