11.3" Free-Standing Fossil Baculite - Pierre Shale

This is a 11.3 inch long Baculites fossil from the Pierre Shale of South Dakota. Baculites ("walking stick rock") is an extinct cephalopod genus with a nearly straight shell. The matrix it is preserved in has been sculpted so that it stands up freely, making for a very aesthetic display. It's approximately 75 million years old, and comes from a time when a shallow sea covered much of South Dakota.

The hard concretion this Baculites was found in has been sculpted to create a nice base for it, that allows it to stand on it's own on a flat surface.