Digging Deep: Spire and Tennessee 811 Help Bring Dino Dig to Life

Every visit to Adventure Science Center starts with a question: what will I discover today? Maybe you’ll conduct the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, mimic the physics of a tsunami, or journey through the solar system. Or maybe you’ll learn what it’s like to uncover buried fossils. 

Head into Fossil Frontiers, and you’ll find Dino Dig. Designed for our youngest explorers (but enjoyed by all), this interactive experience lets guests practice the techniques of real paleontologists. As guests carefully brush away sediment to reveal the fossils below, Dino Dig also emphasizes the importance of dig-site safety and the protection of underground utilities. Like paleontologists who study what's under the earth’s surface, homeowners and contractors need to know what's underground before they start digging. Spire and Tennessee 811 have teamed up to help us educate our guests, young and old, on why calling 811 should always be the first step.  

Our partnership with Spire and Tennessee 811 stems from the two organizations' missions to help better the communities they serve. Tennessee 811’s vision includes partnership in protecting underground facilities through education and enhancing community safety, while Spire works to safely and reliably serve the energy needs of our community. By supporting this interactive learning experience, Science Center guests can understand what it means to look closely and dig with care while experiencing the wonder of discovery. We're grateful to these partners for turning Dino Dig and Fossil Frontiers into a place where curiosity and safety go hand in hand. 

While exploring Fossil Frontiers, don’t miss: 

• Tyrannosaurus rex: a life-sized, 39-foot-long cast of the most feared predator of the Cretaceous 

• Bone Bed: a cast of a real Montana dig site, showing several dinosaur species the way paleontologists find them 

• Mamenchisaurus: a juvenile long-necked sauropod with a neck longer than a giraffe's 

• Flying Reptiles: three soaring skeletons suspended overhead, viewable from below and eye-to-eye from the second floor 

• Deinonychus: the fossil discovery that changed how we understand the link between dinosaurs and birds 

• Tennessee Fossils: real specimens spanning more than 60 million years, including finds from right here in Nashville 

Next time you’re at Adventure Science Center, try on a safety vest, grab a brush, and see what you can discover in Dino Dig. 

Dino Dig was made possible by: