In 1994 on the slopes of Phu Kum mountain in Sahatsakhan district, the abbot of Wat Sakawan found some dinosaur fossils. During the following year the Department of Mineral Resources researchers excavated the fossils and found that this was the largest herbivorous dinosaur site in Thailand; most of the fossils belonging to sauropods dating back 120 million years.
The museum project started in 1995 and was named after Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who presided over its opening ceremony in December 1998. The museum is divided into 8 different exhibition zones. The Origin of the Earth and Universe; The Origin of Living Things, Paleozoic Era, Mesozoic Era, Dinosaurs in Thailand, Bringing life to Dinosaurs, Cenozoic Era and the Origin of Humans.