5.7 Inch Cut and Polished Ammonite (Half)

Inch Cut and Polished Ammonite (Half) #367

Here is a large 5.7 inch wide Cleoniceras ammonite from Morocco which has been cut in half and polished. Found in Madagascar, it lived in the shallow seas during the Middle Cretaceous Period, approximately 110 million years ago. This specimen is simply beautiful with dark agatized cavities some of them lined with calcite crystals. It displays wonderfully on the included stand.

About Ammonites

Ammonites were predatory, marine mollusks that thrived during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras, particularly in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, before going extinct around 66 million years ago. These creatures are characterized by their coiled, spiral shells, which resemble the modern-day nautilus. Ammonite shells were divided into chambers; as they grew, they built new chambers and sealed off the old ones. These chambers were filled with gas, which helped them control buoyancy in the ocean.

The outer shell of ammonites often displays intricate ribbed or ridged patterns and their fossils sometimes show a wide range of beautiful colors due to mineralization over time. The shells fossilized well, making ammonites abundant in the fossil record.. In addition to being popular in fossil collections, ammonites are valuable in geological studies, as they serve as index fossils, helping scientists date rock layers and understand the Earth's prehistoric environments.

Artist's reconstruction of an ammonite, by Nobu Tamura

More about ammonites