The insides of the tiny, fossilized specimen here depicted are
filled with crystalline calcite and quartz. The picture is of a thin
section, taken with polarized, transmitted light, which explains
the lively colors taken on by the crystalline infill. Actual diameter 20 mm.
AMMON E
CO Exposed here is the polished surface of
a tiny ammonite, the size of a dollar, ingeniously cut in half. Its
crystal filled chambers, and the gracious curves of the septa
(partitions) in between, would certainly have appealed to the
architects of the art-deco period. Diameter 22 mm.
ammonite Sphenodiscus Lenticularis is a stone-core: an interior
cast of this shellfish rather than the outer shell. Thanks to this
the suture lines become much better visible. The suture lines
are the edges of the partitions (septa) that divide the interior
of the shell into separate chambers. These are few and far
between in some ammonite species and perplexingly contorted and delicate in others, as in the specimen here seen. Actual
diameter 60 mm.
small morsel of amber, a mosquito and a little spider look like
they are engaged in a ritual dance. Or rather a Danse macabre,
since these insects were cruelly trapped in sticky resin, in an
Eocene forest along the Baltic coast, more than 40 million
years ago!
PID
Immortalized in a
MO QUI
coast of Poland. Fragments or whole specimen of the flora and
fauna of that time, notably insects and spiders, were captured
that way in resin, some 40 million years ago. Many fossils are in
mint condition and provide valuable material for biologists and
paleontologists who study that epoch and the evolution of
species at large. Larger organisms, such as lizards and frogs, are
only rarely found in amber, but they do occur and have tickled
the fantasy of science fiction writers and romanticists alike.
P
FlED TR
TU P Victim of a volcanic outburst,
some 65 million years ago, the fossilized trunk of this tree still
proudly stands upright, on the very place where it grew. It
overlooks what is now called the Bisti Wilderness (New
Mexico, USA), a barren stretch of 'badland' where hardly anything will grow today!
IS This fossil of the
IC
SPHE ODISCU L
ATHie A
R
IS This thin section of a tiny,
fossilized ammonite has all the distinctions of antiquity. The
creature lived somewhere in what is now the Indonesian
Archipelago, some 150 million years ago, during the lower
Cretaceous era. The specimen belongs to a large collection
compiled, in the 1930's, on the Isle ofTimor by Dutch paleontologists. Actual diameter 25 mm.
CAPTURED I A B R Some 40 million years ago, during
the Eocene, this slender insect was trapped in resin, forever.
Resin that spilled out profusely from pines and oaks in the
forr.sts then covering a region that is now the Bay of Gdansk
and the Baltic coast of Poland.
With time, chemical processes transformed the resin into that
lustrous, yellow to golden-red, semi-precious stone we call
amber. Already in the Stone Age amber was collected and polished into valued jewelry.The ancient Greeks and Romans also
obtained amber for their jewelry from these exceptionally rich
deposits on the Baltic coast.
SP
AR AThis diaphanous larva of a spider has been
incarcerated, since Eocene times, in amber from the Baltic
145
filled with crystalline calcite and quartz. The picture is of a thin
section, taken with polarized, transmitted light, which explains
the lively colors taken on by the crystalline infill. Actual diameter 20 mm.
AMMON E
CO Exposed here is the polished surface of
a tiny ammonite, the size of a dollar, ingeniously cut in half. Its
crystal filled chambers, and the gracious curves of the septa
(partitions) in between, would certainly have appealed to the
architects of the art-deco period. Diameter 22 mm.
ammonite Sphenodiscus Lenticularis is a stone-core: an interior
cast of this shellfish rather than the outer shell. Thanks to this
the suture lines become much better visible. The suture lines
are the edges of the partitions (septa) that divide the interior
of the shell into separate chambers. These are few and far
between in some ammonite species and perplexingly contorted and delicate in others, as in the specimen here seen. Actual
diameter 60 mm.
small morsel of amber, a mosquito and a little spider look like
they are engaged in a ritual dance. Or rather a Danse macabre,
since these insects were cruelly trapped in sticky resin, in an
Eocene forest along the Baltic coast, more than 40 million
years ago!
PID
Immortalized in a
MO QUI
coast of Poland. Fragments or whole specimen of the flora and
fauna of that time, notably insects and spiders, were captured
that way in resin, some 40 million years ago. Many fossils are in
mint condition and provide valuable material for biologists and
paleontologists who study that epoch and the evolution of
species at large. Larger organisms, such as lizards and frogs, are
only rarely found in amber, but they do occur and have tickled
the fantasy of science fiction writers and romanticists alike.
P
FlED TR
TU P Victim of a volcanic outburst,
some 65 million years ago, the fossilized trunk of this tree still
proudly stands upright, on the very place where it grew. It
overlooks what is now called the Bisti Wilderness (New
Mexico, USA), a barren stretch of 'badland' where hardly anything will grow today!
IS This fossil of the
IC
SPHE ODISCU L
ATHie A
R
IS This thin section of a tiny,
fossilized ammonite has all the distinctions of antiquity. The
creature lived somewhere in what is now the Indonesian
Archipelago, some 150 million years ago, during the lower
Cretaceous era. The specimen belongs to a large collection
compiled, in the 1930's, on the Isle ofTimor by Dutch paleontologists. Actual diameter 25 mm.
CAPTURED I A B R Some 40 million years ago, during
the Eocene, this slender insect was trapped in resin, forever.
Resin that spilled out profusely from pines and oaks in the
forr.sts then covering a region that is now the Bay of Gdansk
and the Baltic coast of Poland.
With time, chemical processes transformed the resin into that
lustrous, yellow to golden-red, semi-precious stone we call
amber. Already in the Stone Age amber was collected and polished into valued jewelry.The ancient Greeks and Romans also
obtained amber for their jewelry from these exceptionally rich
deposits on the Baltic coast.
SP
AR AThis diaphanous larva of a spider has been
incarcerated, since Eocene times, in amber from the Baltic
145