US DOLLAR
EURO
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR
CANADIAN DOLLAR
POUND STERLING
Product Description
Stromatolites are the FIRST evidence we have for life on Earth. When space exploration seeks life on other planets such as Mars, the specific evidence they are looking for are the presence of fossil stromatolites - traces of prehistoric bacteria colonies. Stromatolite fossils should be the foundation of any fossil display or collection and yet, they are often absent and their importance overlooked despite their enormous scientific importance in the history of all life.
The fossil market has no shortage of STROMATOLITE fossils but in every case, they are sliced and polished slabs of a former fossil colony. The fossil colonies look little more than amorphous stone blobs prior to slicing, lacking any fine original life-like detail. This is an ULTRA-RARE and unusual example of a microbial mat deposited by a massive colony of cyanobacteria in the Permian Period, before the first dinosaurs. It is LACUSTRINE in its source - formed in a prehistoric lake. This specimen has been laboriously prepared in our lab where we painstakingly removed the overlying sediment by micro-blasting to reveal all the delicate intact anatomy of the colony. The detail is so minute and intact that they appear as if still alive exactly similar to the living specimens found today in Shark Bay, Australia. We have never before seen such an exquisite fossilized cyanobacteria colony as this. We are known for being the premier source of Permian fossils from Europe and this is the FIRST TIME we have had a specimen like this to offer. It is the only one we have from a private collection of the original collector.
The price of this specimen takes into account what it would bring if it was sliced up into thin slices and sold as are all stromatolite fossils. It is also Permian in nature which is extremely rare as most stromatolite fossils date back to other periods. The truth is that the slices you see on the market are taken from uninteresting slabs or stone, rarely if ever showing the magnificent detail of the ENTIRE surface anatomy of the fossil colony as this specimen does. Sliced up and destroyed, this specimen could easily bring more money than the price we are asking for the intact, piece as found.
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