Ammonites
 The
word ammonite comes from the Greek word for ram shorn, "ammon". Before
anyone new what fossils were, People in Wales for example said that snakes
were preventing people coming to see St Keyne so she turned them into stone.
In Yorkshire, it was St Hilda who got rid of the snakes, this time by
driving them over a cliff and cutting off their heads. In both cases
ammonites are said to be the remains of the snakes.
Ammonites are the most widely known fossil, a ribbed spiral shell as
pictured above. These creatures lived in the seas between 200 and 65 million
years ago, they became extinct along with the dinosaurs. Ammonites belong to
a group of predators known as cephalopods, like their living relatives the
octopus, squid, cuttlefish and nautilus.
Large specimens were commonly up to one metre across and weighed up to
100 kg. Once the ammonite grew too large for its living chamber, it formed a
new one next door and then moved into it, in the process creating the
characteristic spiral shape of the shell.
You will find many Ammonites at the beach, look out for strange shape
impressions on rocks !. |
