I just started collecting rocks and minerals but, like the kids, I love fossils. Some of these I got before I knew I was a collector, some I bought at Shoshone outside Death Valley and the rest I bought at the Roseville Gem Faire or at the recent Roseville Rock Rollers mineral show. None were very expensive so I can afford to buy more.

Stromatolites, created by single-celled microbes,  started the photosynthesizing revolution that led to our nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere.

This specimen cost less than $10 at the RRR show. Life is older than stromatolites but was usually too soft to successfully become a fossil.

Ammonites are an extinct group of marine molluscs related to living octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish.

These are good index fossils lasting from the Devonian to the K/T extinction ~65 MYA.

I bought the slices at Shoshone outside Death Valley, can’t remember about the little guy.

“Trilobites are remarkable, hard-shelled, segmented creatures that existed over 520 million years ago in the Earth’s ancient seas. They went extinct before dinosaurs even came into existence, and are one of the key signature creatures of the Paleozoic Era, the first era to exhibit a proliferation of the complex life-forms that established the foundation of life as it is today…”, per trilobites.info dot com.

Not much fossilizes of the soft mouth parts and legs on the under side of these ancient mud eaters. I got the black trilobites while working at the Grand Canyon in 1980 and the big one at the RRR show for $8USD.

Above: Where Arlo and Spot lead the trilobite family (the Andersons) to Claw-tooth Mountain-and Home.

These herring ancestors are from the famous Green River Formation, an Eocene geologic formation with exquisite fine grained fossils. Specimen was a gift.

Fossil tree limb slices.

Once you’ve seen one you know one, fossilized whale ear bone. At RRR’s show it was $12, same as Web prices and no shipping.

Ending with some all-time kid favorites, the shark tooth:

And finally coprolite, fossilized animal feces-ancient poo. Sure, the kids love it, and I love it too. No idea what creature deposited it. Very dense. Sales display from Roseville Gem Faire.

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