Tainan Zuojhen Fossil Park

In May 2019, Tainan Zuozhen Fossil Park integrated the original Cailiao Fossil Hall and Natural History Education Hall, and built it together with Guangrong Elementary School. It came out with a whole new look, combining scientific archaeology, education promotion, and sightseeing and recreational visits. functions, featuring "fossils" The unique natural and humanistic context of "hometown" has made Zuozhen an important fossil research base.

The unique treasure trove of fossils in the Cailiao River basin has attracted attention since 1931. When Ichiro Hayasaka, professor of geology at Taipei Imperial University, conducted a geological survey in Tainan, he collected many antler fossils in the Cailiao River basin. and asked local Mr. Chen Chunmu (later known as Fossil Grandpa) to help him collect many precious ancient elephants, rhinos, buffaloes, etc. Animal fossils have established the Cailiao River as a base for the study of paleontology in Taiwan.

There are countless fossils unearthed in the Cailiao River. In the 1970s, amateur fossil enthusiasts collected the skulls of the Zuozhen people in the Cailiao River. According to the analysis of foreign laboratories, it was determined that it was about 3,000 years ago. Later, rhinoceros teeth were found, which were obtained by Taiwanese and Japanese scholars. In cooperation with the Taiwan Provincial Museum team, a very complete rhinoceros fossil was excavated, which lived between about 900,000 and 450,000 years ago. It was called the Hayasaka Chinese rhinoceros. In Taiwan's vertebrate fossil excavation records, this is the largest mobilization ever undertaken by the organization. With the unearthed fossils of the Zuozhen fauna, the Cailiao River Basin has become an important city for fossil research. In 1978, Guangrong Elementary School established the Native Cultural Relics Hall, displaying more than a thousand fossils collected and collected by teachers in the Cailiao River throughout the year, which attracted the attention of the outside world and even attracted the provincial president Lin Yanggang. and Tainan. The county mayor Yang Baofa to visit and travel. This was followed by the opening of the Cailiao Fossil Museum in 1981.

Zuozhen Fossil Park has cumulatively collected marine and land fossils such as mammoths, stegodonts, ancient deer, crocodiles, shellfish, etc. The large number of unearthed terrestrial vertebrate fossils is an important feature, in addition to the skull fragments of the Zuozhen people and the Hayasaka restoration. Chinese rhino collections, such as skeletons, can be described as an irreplaceable fossil treasure in Taiwan. Today, Zuozhen Fossil Park has been transformed and expanded from a single building to five exhibition halls.

The natural history education room simulates the Zuozhen rock strata and walls, where you can experience multiple interactive devices, such as fossil excavation and fossil observation in the river bed; the story room introduces the hills of Xinhua, displays the cultural relics of the Siraya people including Xingang documents, and understands Chen Chunmu's "Grandfather of Fossils" contribution to fossil collecting throughout the throughout his life; the evolution of life room presents the beachhead battle of marine life. The dinosaurs that once ruled the earth are in the atrium, and then the mammals took the stage. of history, witnessing the prosperity and decline of the evolution of life; the setting of the fossil room is enlarged. The augmented reality interactive sand table can help you understand the source of the fossils in the Cailiao River Basin. Most striking, however, is the full-body fossil skeleton of the Chinese rhinoceros at Zaosaka; watch live fossil restoration; Go to the interactive magic painting classroom, interact and feed with the biota in the Cailiao watershed that you have colored.

Like the public art in the park going backwards, it encourages people to have the spirit of questioning and reverse thinking. Ancient fossils take people back in time, like a treasure bestowed by the god of time, giving us the opportunity to open up our own imagination and preserve our understanding forever. Curiosities in the natural sciences.