Specifications
Description
Locality: eastern Anti-Atlas (Tafilalt), Morocco
Era: Paleozoic
Geological Age: approximately 420 to 360 million years ago (mostly Devonian)
Description: These plates are carved from fossil-bearing stone, with goniatite and orthoceras fossils set in the host rock, and shaped into octagon plates. There are several goniatite and orthoceras fossils scattered throughout them. These plates are a guaranteed conversation starter. They make a great statement piece to be displayed in any home.
The coiled fossils in these plates look like goniatites, Paleozoic relatives of the ammonites that lived in the seas long before the dinosaurs. Like ammonites, goniatites were born with tiny shells and, as they grew, they built new chambers onto them. They would move their entire body into the new chamber and seal off the old smaller chamber.
The ancestor of the squid, Orthoceras shells range in length from a few inches to over six feet. Their middle body chamber is transversely constricted, and that would help them crawl across the ocean floor and swim. Orthoceras could float by filling chambers of their shells with air and they used jet propulsion by squirting water to move.
Approximate Size of 1 dish: 29cm x 29cm x 0.4cm
Approximate Weight of 1 dish: 860g
Quantity: 1pc
We do our best to buy quality products- although not every rock is the same. If you choose to purchase the "staff pick option", we will select the best of the batch for you. Otherwise, it will be at random from the larger batch we have in stock.