A diagram of the
geological time scale, depicted as a spiral and exhibiting the
life forms and
environmental conditions characterizing its various divisions.
Image credit: Joseph Graham, William Newman, and John Stacy for the
United States Geological Survey
Upload credit:
Mwtoews
A skeleton of
Steneosaurus, an
extinct
genus of
teleosaurid crocodyliform from the
Toarcian
Lower Jurassic of
Holzmaden,
Germany.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
An specimen of the
brachiopod
Liospiriferina rostrata. Brachiopods filtered
plankton, using a specialized,
spiral-shaped organ called a
lophophore. This specimen is about 35 × 30 mm in size and dates back to the
Pliensbachian age of the
Jurassic period in
France.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
Two skeletons of women between 25 and 35 years of age preserved in the
Tomb of Téviec. The
tomb is dated to the
Mesolithic between 6,740 and 5,680 years ago. They died a violent death, with several head injuries and impacts of
arrows. The two bodies were buried with great care in a pit half in the
basement rock (underlying or country rock) and half in the kitchen debris that covered them. The tomb is protected by
antlers. The grave goods include
flint and
bone (mainly
wild boar) offerings and funeral
jewelry which is made of marine
shells drilled and assembled into
necklaces,
bracelets and ankle
ring. Some of the bone objects have
engraved lines. The tomb was recovered in 1938 and restored in 2010.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
A skull of the
Balearian mouse-goat, Myotragus balearicus, seen in left lateral and right semi-profile aspects. This specimen dates back to the
Lower Paleolithic to
Neolithic between 500,000 and only 5,000 years before the Current Era. It was discovered in the
Islands of Majorca,
Spain.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
A cast of the
holotype cranium of the
Sahelanthropus tchadensis in semi-profile view. This specimen is catalogued as TM 266-01-060-1 and popularly known by the nickname Toumaï.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
A tooth of
Australopithecus africanus catalogued by the
Transvaal Museum as STS 1881. The specimen is 15.46 × 13.64 × 7.31 mm in size. STS 1881 was discovered near
Sterkfontein,
South Africa and dates back 2.8 million years.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
Skull from one of the women preserved in the
Tomb of Téviec. The tomb is dated to the
Mesolithic between 6740 and 5680 years ago. They died a violent death, with several head injuries and impacts of
arrows. The two bodies were buried with great care in a pit half in the
basement rock (underlying or country rock) and half in the kitchen debris that covered them. The
tomb was protected by
antlers. The grave goods include
flint and
bone (mainly
wild boar) offerings and funeral
jewelry. The tomb was recovered in 1938 and restored in 2010.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
A skeleton of
Barracudasauroides panxianensis collected from the ~247.2-million- to ~242-million-year-old
Anisian
Guanling Formation of
Guizhou Province,
China. The specimen is 118 × 62 × 545 cm in size and 79.4 kg in mass.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
A
stromatolite collected from the 3,600- to 3,200-million-year-old
Paleoarchean
Strelley Pool Chert of
Western Australia,
Australia. Stromatolites are formed over the years by
mats (1–10 mm in thickness) of microorganisms (
cyanobacteria among others) found in shallow, mainly
marine waters. The microorganisms
precipitate
mineral
particles, which makes the mat thicken, but only the upper part survives. Most stromatolites display characteristically layered structures. Only the layers are visible to the naked eye.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
A fossil of the
trilobite
Pseudoasaphus praecurrens. This specimen dates back 460–468 million years ago to the
Darriwilian age of the
Middle Ordovician
epoch and was discovered near
Saint Petersburg,
Russia in the
Koporka River deposits. It is 18.4 × 10 × 4.4 cm in size and has a mass of about 580 g.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
A
molar of the
proboscidean
Platybelodon grangeri. This fossil dates between 5.3 and 14 million years ago to the
Miocene
epoch of the
Neogene
period. It was discovered in the
Linxia Basin of
Gansu Province,
China and measures 20 × 9 × 6 cm in size.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
Copal from
Madagascar. These specimens bear fossil
inclusions including
spiders,
termites,
ants,
elaterids,
hymenopterans, a
cockroach and a
flower.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
Two views of a natural
endocranial cast articulated with a fragmentary
skull of
Australopithecus africanus, which includes the left
maxilla, the
orbital area and most of the skull base. Its
endocranial volume was 485 cm3 (29.6 cu in). This specimen is cataloged by the
Transvaal Museum as TM 1511 and was formerly considered the
holotype of a separate
species,
Plesianthropus transvaalensis. It was first discovered in
South Africa by G. W. Barlow and described by
Robert Broom in
1938.
Photo credit:
José Braga and
Didier Descouens
A
shell trumpet made of the
conch species
Charonia lampas dating back 10,000 to 17,000 years ago to the
Magdalenian stage of the
Upper Paleolithic. The specimen is 31 × 18 × 18 cm in size and cataloged by the
Muséum of Toulouse as MHNT.PRE.2010.0.1.2. It was discovered in 1931 during field work undertaken by
Henri Begouen of the
University of Toulouse and
J. Townsend Russell of the
Smithsonian Institution in the
Marsoulas cave of
Marsoulas,
Haute-Garonne,
France.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
The original
2.1-million-year-old
skull of an
Australopithecus africanus specimen nicknamed "
Mrs. Ples". The specimen was discovered in the
Sterkfontein cave, hominid fossil in
South Africa and is catalogued by the
Transvaal Museum as STS 5.
Photo credit:
José Braga and
Didier Descouens
Cast of the skull and neck vertebrae of a
Uintatherium anceps. The specimen was a gift from
Professor Othniel Charles Marsh to the
Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle of
Paris,
France in
1889.
Photo credit:
Jebulon
Mounted
skull and
neck of the 150-million-year-old
Late Jurassic
theropod
Allosaurus fragilis. The specimen was discovered in the
U.S. state of
Utah and is exhibited in the Galerie de paléontologie et d'anatomie comparée of the
Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in
Paris,
France.
Photo credit:
Jebulon
A mounted replica skeleton of the
Middle Triassic
dicynodontid
Tetragonias njalilus from
Tanzania. The mount is on display at the Staatliches
Museum für Naturkunde in
Karlsruhe,
Germany.
Photo credit: H. Zell
A
95-million-year-old slab of fossiliferous rock from
Hakel,
Lebanon measuring 24 cm in width. The specimen prominently preserves a member of the
lobster genus
Pseudostacus as well as the fish
Diplomystus birdii A fragmentary specimen of an additional fish,
Dercetis triqueter, is visible in the lower right-hand corner of the specimen.
Photo credit:
Brocken Inaglory
The mounted
lectotype skeleton of the
Late Jurassic
stegosaur
Kentrosaurus aethiopicus in the
Museum für Naturkunde of
Berlin,
Germany. The specimen was a partial 4.5-m-long individual excavated from the "St" quarry at
Kindope,
Tendaguru,
Tanzania.
Photo credit: H. Zell
Rock formations known as the Tepees in
Petrified Forest National Park
Arizona,
USA. The exposed rock layers belong to the Blue Mesa Member of the
Chinle Formation and are about 220 to 225 million years old. The colorful bands of mudstone and sandstone were laid down during the
Triassic, when the area was part of a huge
tropical
floodplain.
Photo credit:
User:Finetooth
An 1883 copy of an 1881 portrait of
Charles Darwin by
John Collier. According to Darwin's son Erasmus, "The picture is a replica of the one in the rooms in the
Linnaean Society and was made by Collier after the original. I took some trouble about it and as a likeness it is an improvement on the original." The portrait was given to the
National Portrait Gallery in
London in 1896.
Art credit:
John Collier
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User:Dcoetzee
A specimen of
copal with
insect
inclusions. The piece of copal measures around four centimeters deep and the insects are trapped from 0.5 to 2 centimeters deep within it. The bubbles around some of the insects indicate that they were alive and breathing when they were trapped inside.
Photo credit: Brocken Inaglory
Upload credit: Mbz1
The middle of a polished 15.34 cm × 18.04 cm slice of a
petrified tree from
Arizona,
USA. After the enlargement of the image it is possible to see
insect
borings in the wood. The tree lived approximately 230 million years ago during the
Late Triassic.
Photo credit:
Michael Gäbler
Close up image of
petrified wood from
Canyonlands National Park in
Utah,
USA.
Photo credit: Jim Gordon
Various views of a shell of the
Pliocene
snail species
Petaloconchus intortus from
Baschi,
Italy. The specimen is 2.9 cm long.
Photo credit: H. Zell
Various views of a
Pliocene shell of the
European sting winkle
Ocenebra erinacea from
Bibbiano,
Tuscany,
Italy. The specimen is 3.3 cm long.
Photo credit: H. Zell
Various views of a
Pliocene shell of the
lightning whelk
Busycon contrarium from
La Belle,
Florida,
USA. The specimen is 24 cm long.
Photo credit: H. Zell
An extremely well preserved specimen of the
Late Jurassic
ichthyodectid
fish genus
Thrissops, similar to the species T. formosus. The specimen was discovered near
Ettling,
Bavaria,
Germany and still preserves remains of the animal's soft tissue like
musculature and the
gastrointestinal tract. Even the
color pattern it exhibited in life is preserved as spots by the
melanin in its
scales.
Photo credit: H. Zell
A fossil of the
Eocene
mammal
Macrocranion tupaiodon discovered in
Messel,
Germany. The specimen is on display at the
Museum für Naturkunde in
Karlsruhe, Germany.
Photo credit: H. Zell
Excavations at a
fossil site called
Gran Dolina, in
Atapuerca,
Spain, during
2008. The
horizon receiving primary attention of this excavation is called TD-10, which is all that remains of a
Homo heidelbergensis camp. Under the plank, a woman in a red
sweatshirt is excavating the TD-6 horizon, where the first documented remains of
Homo antecessor were discovered.
Photo credit:
User:Mario modesto
Fossil remains of various
horse
genera, showing the evolution of their
skeletons,
skulls and
limb bones over time. The uppermost and most recent genus is that of the modern horse,
Equus. Below that is
Pliohippus, dating back to the late
Miocene. Below that and older still is
Merychippus of the middle
Miocene. The bottom and oldest horse genus is
Mesohippus from the late
Eocene.
Photo credit: H. Zell
An
ant preserved in a small, roughly 1.5 cm by 2 cm piece of
Colombian
amber.
Photo credit: Brocken Inaglory
Dusk on the
Marine Parade,
Lyme Regis,
Dorset,
UK. The
ammonite-design streetlamps reflect the town's location on the
Jurassic Coast, a
World Heritage Site. The
bird is a
herring gull,
Larus argentatus.
Photo credit:
User:MichaelMaggs
A mounted skeleton of a
Late Cretaceous
mosasaurid
species belonging to the
genus
Plioplatecarpus, probably
P. ictericus. In life the animal would have been about 5.5 m in length. The mounted skeleton is actually a composite of two individuals collected from the
Niobrara Formation, of
Kansas,
USA and is exhibited in the
Museum für Naturkunde in
Karlsruhe,
Germany.
Photo credit: H. Zell
A life restoration of the
Late Cretaceous
ceratopsid
dinosaur
Achelousaurus horneri from the
Two Medicine Formation of
Montana,
USA.
Artist credit:
Mariana Ruiz
Fossil
shell of the
parkinsoniid
ammonoid
Parkinsonia parkinsoni. The shell dates back to the
Bajocian
age of the
Middle Jurassic
epoch and is about 14.5 cm in diameter. It was collected in
Evrecy,
France.
Photo credit: H. Zell
A fossil of the
trilobite
Pliomerops escoti. This specimen dates back to the
Ordovician
period.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
Focus stacked composite of 7 photographs of a trilobite fossil.
Photo credit:
Thomas Bresson
A fossil of the
asaphid
trilobite
Megalaspides. This specimen dates back to the
Ordovician
period. It was collected in
Ohio,
USA and is displayed by the
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde in
Karlsruhe,
Germany.
Photo credit:
H. Zell
A fossil of a
calymenid trilobite.
Photo credit:
Thomas Bresson
The top image is a nodule containing a
calymenid trilobite fossil. The bottom images show the extracted fossil (right) and the
natural mold it left behind in the counterpart section of the nodule (left).
Photo credit:
Thomas Bresson
A fossil of the
trilobite
Koneprusia brutoni. This specimen dates back to the
Devonian
period and was discovered near
Djebel Oufaten,
Morocco. The fossil is about 6.5 cm long.
Photo credit:
Didier Descouens
Fossil of a trilobite in the genus
Niobella
resembling the species
N. fourneti. This fossil was discovered in
Saint-Nazaire de Ladarez,
France.
Photo credit:
Pierre Selim
A cluster of fossils fossil of the
trilobite
Homotelus bromidensis. This specimen dates back to the
Ordovician
period and was discovered in
Oklahoma,
USA.
Photo credit:
High Contrast