Usuario:Pablo Ignacio Scaletta/Taller

Carlos Ameghino Provincial Museum

The Carlos Ameghino Provincial Museum is a museum of natural history founded by Professor Roberto Abel in 1971. It is located in the city of Cipolletti, province of Rìo Negro, Argentina, and it is named after the renowned naturalist and explorer Carlos Ameghino. It is currently located in the "Pichi Ruca" house which belonged to General Manuel Fernàndez Oro and is located within the land of the "La Esmeralda" estate.

History

In the beginning, it was located at the Peuser Manor, located in the Los Tordos neighbourhood in the city of Cipolletti. It currently belongs to the School of Humanities of the National University of Comahue.

In 1987 the museum was moved to the "Pichi Ruca" house, which was a part of the "La Esmeralda" estate. The manor belonged to General Manuel Fernàndez Oro, the city's founder, and his wife, Lucinda González Larrosa.
The Senate of Argentina declared the Museum a place of social, cultural and educational interest in 2015, as a recognition of its institutional work. The proposal was submitted by national senator Magdalena Odarda and passed on the 25th of November in that year.

Collections

The museum hosts material on the regional fauna (birds, reptiles and mammals), many fossils, and lots of historic material on the foundation of the city and its first periods. In this museum the remains of mesozoic tetrapods are displayed, an example of which is the original fossilised cranium of Abelisaurus comahuensis, a carnivorous dinosaur that lived in Patagonia during the Cretaceous period. It hosts the remains of other taxa of theropod dinosaurs, such as Buitreraptor gonzalezorum, Alnashetri cerropoliciensis, Bonapartenykus ultimus and Quilmesaurus curriei, Bicentenaria argentina; of sauropod dinosaurs, such as Rocasaurus muniozi, Bonitasaura salgadoi and Pellegrinisaurus powelli; and ornithopod dinosaurs, such as Willinakaqe salitralensis. Other species that are a part of the richness of its collections are the remains of snakes (Najash rionegrina), a specimen of the Rhynocephalia order (Priosphenodon avelasi) and a mammal (Cronopio dentiacutus).

Besides, it has got a collection of archaeological pieces from the site of the Higher Valley of the Negro River. This collection consists of lithic material (mortars, pestles, grinders, bolas, arrow heads, knives, racloirs, et cetera) and numerous pieces of pottery.

Laboratory of palaeohistological cuts

The Museum has got a laboratory for cutting thin slices of contemporary and fossil bones for histological studies. It was built in 2017. It is currently the only laboratory that is used specifically for treating fossilised bones for research purposes in the Comahue region.