Cleoniceras Ammonite On Bronze 249mm

Bronze surmounted Cleoniceras ammonite, unearthed from Madagascar's fossil layers, created into a sublimely classic sculptural element by The Fossil Store team. The absorption of the local environment’s mineral wealth has taken place inside the hollow chambers, through a process of osmosis. Minerals transform the interior of the phragmocone (shell), where crystals develop through a process of per-mineralisation, mineral-rich water coursing through the ammonite tissues leaving behind deposits of minerals, thus enabling quartz, in this instance, to also form and grow filling any cavity.

The evolving fossilisation takes place over long periods of time, eventually fossilising in millions of years as the metamorphism of the fossil process unfolds. The specimen ammonite precisely cut in half, conserved, prepared and finely polished in Madagascar. This process is a technically demanding one, requiring skill from the fossil technician to achieve the high standard seen here. The final presentation on a bronzed base designed and produced in the United Kingdom.

Revealing the wonders of mineralisation which takes place over millions of years. Each chamber has been replaced with quartz in the form of calcites and coloured jaspers, minerals that once formed the sea bottom muds and surrounded the invertebrates phragmocone (shell) when covered over in the Cretaceous silts. These contained minerals which created the colours now preserved and which can be viewed millions of years later.

Ammonites are part of the Ammonitida of marine invertebrates. These were fascinating creatures from the deep oceans and believed to be similarly aggressive creatures as giant squids of today. With extremely large eyes and remarkable vision hunting down prey at great depths, where little light penetrated the ocean. The Cephalopod would grasp its prey using long tentacles, much as the modern day Nautilus Pompilius which can still be found extant in the modern-day Pacific Ocean.