Category Archives: Paleontology
Knocknashee
“Knocknashee”, legendary ” Hill of the Faeries” County Sligo, Ireland Knocknashee is known as the legendary “Hill of the Faeries” and is one of Ireland’s seven most sacred hills. The name comes from the Irish “knock” (cnoc) meaning … Continue reading
Saveok Water Archaeological Site
Saveok Mill Archaeological Site Saveok Mill Site Greenbottom, Cornwall, England * http://www.archaeologyonline.org/index.html * A small local farm in Greenbottom, Saveok Mill has placed itself on the archaeological map when resident Jacqui Wood discovered very curious archaeological features in her … Continue reading
Preserved Animal Tracks at Saveok Water Site
Animal Tracks along the River @ Saveok Water Archaeological Site Saveok Mill, Greenbottom, Truro, Cornwall, England During my June 2010 visit to the Saveok Water Archaeological Site in the Area B3 were discovered very well-preserved (petrified?) … Continue reading
Firehole Canyon / Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area
Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Wyoming Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Wyoming Art Gallery of Time “Major John Wesley Powell named the Flaming Gorge and tributaries such as Little Firehole Canyon for the brilliant red sandstone exposed in the … Continue reading
Plesiosaur:
Plesiosaur Timeline: Jurassic through Cretaceous Period Is a carnivorous aquatic reptile with a broad body and a short tail. Retaining their ancestral two pairs of limbs, which evolved into large flippers. They were slow swimmers. The name applies to the … Continue reading
Prehistoric Sea Urchin: Tylocidaris clavigera
Prehistoric Sea Urchin Tylocidaris clavigera Timeline: Cretaceous Period Cidaris clavigera was named by Mantell (1822). It is not a trace fossil. It is the type species of Tylocidaris. It is an extinct genus of echinoid that lived from the Early … Continue reading
Rudist Bivalve: Hippurites radiosus
Rudist Bivalve Hippurites radiosus Timeline: Late Cretaceous Period Location of fossil: Charente, France Holes bored in the upper shell by organisms that lived above the sediment show that this rudist lived with most of its shell buried. fossil at National … Continue reading
Ammonites
Fossil display at National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian, National Mall, Washington, D.C. Ammonites Timeline: Jurassic / Cretaceous Period (256-65 Million years ago) Maximum size: 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) in diameter Predator advantage: tentacles, large beak Likely prey: Fishes, mollusks, … Continue reading
Helicoprionids
Heliocoprionids Heliocoprionid sp. Timeline: Late Permian (299-251 Million years ago) Maximum size: Uncertain Predator advantage: teeth Likely prey: Fishes, cephalopods The prehistoric shark Heliocoprionid sp. swan the seas in the Pennsylvannian (318-299 million years ago). A continuous whorl of teeth … Continue reading
Placoderm Fish
Dunkleosteus terrelli : Placoderm Fish Age: Late Devonian Placoderms Peak Period: Devonian Likely Prey: Sharks, fishes, cephalopods Crunch! Placoderms attacked their prey with razor sharp bony jaws. They were the biggest fishes in the ocean. Placoderms were among the first … Continue reading