4375 Cut Split PAIR Ammonite Crystals Cavaties LARGE 3.1" Dinosaur Fossil 78mm

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4375 Cut Split PAIR Ammonite Crystals Cavaties LARGE 3.1" Dinosaur Fossil 78mm Imagine holding in your hand a 110 million year old fossil. Some ammonites are much older than that, up to 450 million years old. Even older than the dinosaurs. Oceans at the time were teeming with life. Predators were everywhere. And it was a live fast, or die hard world for the ammonites. In fact, ammonites closely resemble modern squids, octopus and the chambered nautilus. Ammonites were carnivores as well. Fossils were once found only in museums - NOW you can OWN one!!! You can hold in your hand a part of the ancient fossil record from the time the dinosaurs roamed the earth. This is the NEW 2012 batch from Madagascar. I brought in for Tucson with some of the best color and deepest cavities/pockets around, excellent batch!!! Super nice crystals, absolutely the best I have seen in years. Description: Ammonite Pair Split, Cut and Polished Weight (lbs): .60# Weight (gm): 200 grams Size (inches): 3.1" x 2.6" Size (mm): 78 mm x 66mm Mine location: Tulear, Madagascar Item Number: 4375 Retail value: $200 ---------------------------------------------------------- Facts about ammonites - Closest living relative - Octopus, Squid, Cuttlefish and it's closest cousin the Nautilus. First appeared - in shallow seas 450 million year ago. Extinct - in a catoclysmic event in the Cretaceous, with the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago. Began life - less than 1 mm in diameter. About the size of a period in this sentence. But they grew fast. Females - reported to grow 400% bigger than males. Shells - comprised of chambers growing as the ammonite did. Making 13 new chambers each year. The ammonite lived in the last section, called the living segment. Medieval Europe - Ammonites were thought to be petrified snakes. They were called "snakestones" or "serpent stones". Ammonites were said to be evidence for the actions of St. Hilda and St. Patrick - who drove the snakes out of Ireland. In ancient times, traders would carve the face of a snake into the wide end of the ammonite fossil and sell them to the public.The name Ammonite - comes from their spiral shape. The fossilized shells somewhat resembled tightly coiled rams' horns. Pliny the Elder (79 A.D. near Pompeii) called these fossils - ammonis cornua ("horns of Ammon") . Because the Egyptian god Amman was typically depicted wearing ram's horns.----------------------------------------------- Types of ammonites - Cleoniceras - These most colorful ammonites come from Madagascar, off the coast of Africa. Cleoniceras is the most common type in Madagascar. 99% of the ammonites found in Madagascar are this species, with a smooth shell and angled segments. The animal actually lived in the very last segments. Variations in price are due to color differences and how many crystal cavities (or open 'cave like' structures) in the segments. On average 110 million years old. Cymatoceras - Wide body Madagascar ammonites. Some stand on their own and do not need stands. Much rarer than the regular narrow body Cleoniceras. More like a Wide Body Nautilus. (Limited quantities) Perisphinctes - Less than 1% of Madagascar ammonites are this type. Ridges are on the back with a complete different growth pattern. The chambers are also more compact and of a different shape. Frequently one of the most brightly colored. On normal ammonites, the middle is thicker. On Perisphinctes the inner coils are smaller which is a rare occurance among ammonites. These always command a high price. ( RARE ) Fire ammonites - Also from Madagascar. Notoriously hard to photograph. Fire ammonites have a gorgeous jewel red flash to them. In fact this jewel red flash is so hard to photograph that we have to take over 100 pictures, just to get 10 good photos. Similiar to opals in their brilliance. Occasional flashes of blue, green and purple can be se... read more

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