Small Fossil Fish Display

Fifty-million-year-old fossilised fish, framed in driftwood.

There are places in the world where the presence of fossils makes them very special.

The Jurassic Coast in southern England, for example, can be considered the birthplace of palaeontology. Similarly, the huge bone-fields of the Gobi Desert, Australia’s Ediacara Hills, the stunning window into ancient life that is Canada’s Burgess Shale – all are iconic fossil-bearing locations and well known to anyone with an interest in ancient life.

However, in terms of the sheer abundance of fossils, few places can rival the Green River Formation on the Great Plains of Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. The chances are that if you collect fossils, at least one of your collection will come from this rock formation.

Formed 50 million years ago from three huge freshwater lakes, the rocks of Green River consist primarily of fine-grained sandstones and mudstones – perfect for preserving the fine detail of the animals that lived and died there in the early Eocene epoch.

This beautiful example of a well-known Green River Formation fish is now available in the Timeless Galleries. The species’ full name is Diplomystus dentatus– first discovered by the famous palaeontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1877. The preservation is such that individual bones of the skull may be discerned on close inspection.

Framed in a hand-finished, glassless driftwood, the outer measurements are 21cm x 22cm.

Visit timeless.gallery to see our full collection of curiosities.