ArtLine Scavenger Hunt
Aviation Park Clue: Unearthed Plates
Unearthed Plates by PUNCH
Unearthed Plates is a playful, family and child friendly sculpture at Aviation Park. The plates of the stegosaurus rise out of the ground and the body is created by layered dirt mounds to create a unique land art piece, like a gentle giant slowly coming out of the earth.
There's one iconic sculpture in each park on the ArtLine: Mountair, Aviation, and Walker-Branch. These three sculptures, created by PUNCH, are the most significant on the ArtLine and inspire wonder, interaction and exploration. PUNCH created “interactive, memorable, and playful” sculptures based on discovery and excavation of Colorado’s state dinosaur, the stegosaurus (first fossils found just southwest of Lakewood). The sculptures include kinetic, functional and earth art installations – the types of art most desired by the community based on extensive input early in the project.
Fun Facts
Stegosaurus is a four-legged, armored dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period, characterized by the distinctive upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails.
These were large, heavily built, herbivorous quadrupeds with rounded backs, short fore limbs, long hind limbs, and tails held high in the air. It had a short neck and a small head, meaning it most likely ate low-lying bushes and shrubs.
Cool Facts:
Stegosaurus have a brain about the size of a walnut! Given its size, Stegosaurus was equipped with an unusually small brain, comparable to that of a modern golden retriever.
Stegosaurus was one of the earliest dinosaurs to evolve cheeks!
Image: Daderot / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
Strauss, Bob. "10 Facts About Stegosaurus, the Spiked, Plated Dinosaur." ThoughtCo, Aug. 25, 2020, thoughtco.com/things-to-know-stegosaurus-the-spiked-plated-dinosaur-1093799.