BLACK ARIETITES AMMONITE FROM GERMANY IN ORIGINAL MATRIX

North Germany

EARLY JURASSIC PERIOD (LIAS):  206 - 180 million years ago

In its original limestone boulder, this is a beautiful, natural jet black Arietites bucklandi ammonite.  The matrix boulder is very heavy and shows mostly natural surfaces.  We prepared an area around the ammonite to best contrast its natural color to the matrix and further expose its fully inflated shell structure.  This is a stunning display specimen and of a type and style that is not seen in every fossil show, shop and website like certain types of heavily marketed and prevalent commercial examples.  Because of this uniqueness, this ammonite makes a great display piece for advanced collectors or designers striving to set themselves apart from using typical, mass-marketed fossils in their interior setting applications.  NO RESTORATION OR FABRICATION and still embedded in its original host rock as found.

Ammonites like these are not commercially mined so their scarcity is not only due to true rarity but also to the lack of any large scale mining and collecting efforts unlike mass-marketed and plentiful ammonites from Russia, Madagascar and Morocco.  Highly attractive with great natural texture!

Ammonites are extinct members of the Cephalopod class.  Modern members include nautilus, squid and octopus.  They first appeared during the Silurian Period (435 million to 410 million years ago) and were abundant and widespread in the seas of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (175 million to 65 million years ago).  Ammonites are important index fossils—that is, they often link the rock layer in which they are found to specific geological time periods.

Ammonites varied greatly in size.  The largest known as small as 2 cm (0.75 in) in diameter.  During the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, ammonites evolved more streamlined shells for swimming and the structure of the shell became stronger.  Different shell shapes emerged as well, such as snail-like or uncoiled.   

The shells of ammonites had hollow chambers separated by walls called septa.  A tube called the siphuncle, connected the body with the chambers allowing the animal to fill them with water or air, changing its buoyancy in order to  rise or drop in the ocean.  Only the last and largest chamber was occupied by the living animal.  

Ammonites probably lived for one to six years, with the majority living two to four years.  They fed on plankton (tiny free-floating organisms), sea lilies, and smaller orthoceras.  Although many fed off the ocean floor, others may have caught plankton while floating or swimming via jet propulsion, expelling water through a funnel-like opening to propel themselves in the opposite direction.

Because ammonites lived exclusively in marine environments, their presence also indicates the location of prehistoric seas.

BEAUTIFUL LARGE NATURAL JET BLACK SPECIMEN EMBEDDED IN ITS ORIGINAL MATRIX BOULDER

11" x 7.5" overall with original matrix, ammonite is 5.5" across

$795     AMX-147     Actual Item - One Only

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