Fossils

The world of fossils is wide and deep. Fossils are a record of life on earth frozen in stone form, from its very beginnings with single-cellular organisms to the majestic dinosaurs such as the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Stromatolites, for example, represent perhaps earliest accounting of life’s humble beginnings when microbes such as algae were the dominant forms to be found on the planet. Many types of stromatolites are found typically in Jaspers like the handsome Kumbaba Jasper from Madagascar or Mary Ellen Jasper from Minnesota and were formed 2 billion years ago or earlier. Fossils are so omnipresent in our geological record that they have changed the face of the earth as much as the earth has morphed them. This can be evidenced in the many shale, coal, oil and natural gas deposits which are found in every corner of the earth.

Scientifically, the term fossil comes from the Latin word ‘Fossus’, meaning “having been dug up”, and represent either the remains or impressions of plants and animals preserved in rock from an earlier epoch. In geologic terms, fossils, both found and yet to be discovered, come from fossiliferous (containing fossils) strata which, in turn, give us a fossil record.

The name fossil evokes something else for the discerning collector. Delicate ferns, palms, ginko trees are a favorite category of fossils and demonstrate for us what plant life looked like, especially before the advent of the flower. Fossils also document sea life over the eons and have given us glimpses of fantastical sea creatures, such as the …. and the trilobites which plied our waters and ocean bottoms for ages. On land, we can find evidence of a fascinating past. There are transitional fauna, such as the Proterogyrinus which served as a bridge between amphibious and terrestrial life, or the proto-bird Pedopenna found in China and the famous Archaeopteryx specimens found in Germany. Most beloved, however, are the remains dinosaurs (super order Dinosauria, part of the class Sauropsida) which roamed from the Late Triassic period (230 million years ago) till the Late Cretaceous period (65 million years ago). It is worthwhile to note that many non-dinosaurs are informally lumped into this category, such as the flying Pterodactyls and the swimming ichthyosaurs. Most serious collectors avoid using this loose nomenclature to describe this diverse array of fossil remains.