Exhibition & Events

The Rotunda Gallery on the first floor of the building pays homage to the vision of the Scarborough Philosophical Society, and to Smith's ideas. For the first time, specimens from Smith's own collection, on loan from the Natural History Museum, London, are on display, along with many items donated by the founding members of the Society. The exhibition provides a starting point for many stories about the social history of the time, and the development of the museum.

On the ground floor, the Dinosaur Coast Gallery features a large three dimensional section of the coast from Redcar in the north to Flamborough Head in the south. Specimens of the wildlife of the coast displayed alongside interactives and points of interest help museum visitors to plan further coastal discoveries. The gallery also contains a fossil ID station for budding field workers to return to!

Also on the ground floor, the Shell* Geology Now Gallery explores the scientific processes behind both geology and archeology. Today's hydrocarbon industry is underpinned by Smith's work on stratigraphy, and it is often the same scientific processes which allow us to increase our understanding of other organic materials. Gristhorpe Man, who also resides in the gallery, is an excellent example of this. The 4,000 year old skeleton excavated locally from an early bronze age site, along with his coffin and his grave goods, has been subject to mass spectrometry and lead isotope dating. Interactives using the latest technology allow the visitor to explore the science and the people behind today's research.

*Shell is a company which embraces the significance ofthe work of William Smith in identifying the strata and creating ‘fossil-ordered stratigraphy.  This discovery is the basis of all mineral and oil exploration today.  This is the reason that Shell has generously offered support to the Rotunda, the William Smith Museum of Geology. Shells support, which has also encompassed large amounts of staff time, has helped us to develop the Shell Geology Now that looks to the future as well as the past.