A sea urchin named Eluveitie and a worm named Lemmy Kilmister

The special exhibition «Rock Fossils - Yes it's love!» reveals a secret affair of paleontology: the passion for hard rock music. No, the exhibition does not show the petrified remains of deceased rock greats, but fossils, all of which bear the names of important rock and metal bands. Last Wednesday, a previously unknown species of sea urchin was christened "Paracidaris eluveitie" and honored with an acoustic concert by the Swiss folk metal band.

As a child, you usually visit the Natural History Museum accompanied by classmates and a teacher, then you usually take a longer break until later, when you have children of your own, when you find yourself back in the museum. In between, in the period between being a child and being a parent, a visit to a museum is rather rare. How do you lure non-children and non-parents to the Natural History Museum? By addressing this target group in a slightly different way than a museum usually does. There are scientists who give new, previously unknown animal species names that are related to their location or shape. And there are scientists who dedicate a new species to their favorite rock star. Apparently there are a lot of scientists in paleontology who not only love fossils, but also indulge in rock music with the same passion - hard rock music. The special exhibition "Rock Fossils - Yes, it's love" presents 36 dinosaurs and other fossils that bear the names of bands or singers from the rock scene. This is how AC/DC, Motörhead's Lemmy, Ramones, Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Sex Pistols have taken their place in Earth's history.

The exhibition was first shown at the Geomuseum in Faxe, Denmark. There she caused a worldwide sensation, especially in the metal scene. The Natural History Museum Bern (NMBE) has the honor of being the first to show the exhibition outside of Scandinavia. In the meantime, the exhibition has received a prominent addition: the recently discovered fossil of an ancestor of the hippopotamus, which was named after Mick Jagger because of its full lips, will be on display for the first time with a reconstruction and skeletal remains. However, the exhibition was substantially expanded by the Natural History Museum in Bern itself: the paleontologists at the NMBE are dedicating a previously unknown species of sea urchin to the volume Eluveitie. "Paracidaris eluveitie" is a 160-million-year-old echinoderm recently discovered in the Swiss Jura (Auenstein, AG), whose shell ornaments are reminiscent of Celtic objects. As is well known, the band name Eluveitie is the Etruscan form of the Celtic word Helvetios (The Helvetian).

The exhibition started in style in the Museum's Skeleton Hall with an acoustic concert by Eluveitie, who on this occasion received their «own» fossil species, which was presented to them in the form of a fossil model. The combination of museum and metal concert really appealed to me beforehand. But does that work with an acoustic gig? Does pagan metal work without metal? No it does not! It was a shame to see a really great live band fail that evening. Unfortunately, Eluveitie were not brave enough to experiment. Simply replacing the electric guitars with acoustic guitars was definitely not creative enough. The whole dynamic of their songs was lost, what remained were sound patterns that always sounded the same. Nothing with wild hair shaking and hard guitars! For the museum gig, the eight-strong Winterthur troupe rehearsed an acoustic set and presented it sitting in a semicircle. The song “The Call Of The Mountains” was sung by singer and hurdy-gurdy player Anna Murphy in Bernese German, which was rehearsed especially for this evening and ripped the whole thing out a bit. Sometimes songs only work if they are carried by opposites, like with Eluveitie - unfortunately these opposites were missing.

NMBE presents: Paleontologist Bernhard Hostettler & the Eluveitie sea urchin

In addition to the 160-million-year-old sea urchin, which will henceforth bear the name of the successful folk metal band, the museum also has a very special exhibit for metal fans in the form of the original "Metal Heart", which was immortalized on the cover of Accept's 1985 album of the same name . The exhibition "Rock Fossils - Yes, it's love!" lasts until May 31st. The supporting program includes concerts, lectures and unconventional guided tours. The latter runs under the name "Stage Dive" and offers visitors the opportunity not only to immerse themselves in the scientific aspect of the topic, but also to listen to appropriate music and linger at the bar. In addition to the concerts, a Rathouse Records record store will be open at the exhibition on Saturdays and Sundays.

[rwp-review id=»0″]