Fossils

On the mantelpiece in our front room, there's a fossil that is 180 million years old. It is an ammonite that was found on the coast of North Yorkshire. I should add that I did not find it myself. Instead, I bought it for a mere £5 in a fossil shop in Whitby. To me this was an incredible bargain. I mean - 180 million years! How amazing. Admittedly, my ammonite is only two inches in diameter but still...

Courtesy of YouTube, I have recently been following a pair of Yorkshire lads who are skilled fossil hunters. They explore remote North Yorkshire beaches  - invariably on the look out for stone nodules that may contain ammonites. These nodules are often contained within layers of shale that were formed millions of years ago in warm, tropical seas.

Unusually, in the half hour video that follows there are no spoken words. It's just one of the young fossil hunters searching the beach for promising nodules and then splitting them open with his hammer. Sometimes there's absolutely nothing within but often he finds an ammonite - viewed for the very first time by human eyes.

I found it all rather mesmerising. In fact, I have occasionally considered passing an hour or two on a remote Yorkshire beach searching for ammonites myself. The "Yorkshire Fossils" videos give you a good idea of what to look out for.

from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/SJqwguU