Age – Early Triassic ( 240 million years )
Location – Lubbock, Texas
Size – 14 ” x 13″ x 4″
Ammonites were cephalopods (predatory marine mollusks) similar to the modern Squid, Octopus and chambered Nautilus. They dies out along with the dinosaurs at the close of the Cretaceous period some 65 million years ago. Their existence on Earth lasted for 330 million years and their hard shells are found as fossils in most countries throughout the world. Noted by humankind since Biblical times, they were first called “Ammon’s Stones” due to their resemblance to the ram’s horns of Ammon, the ancient Egyptian God of life and procreation. They have been collected and prized for their aesthetic and geometrical beauty for thousands of years. It wasn’t until the late 1700’s that it was generally accepted that these “rocks” were the remains of once-living organisms.
