Fossil Art: An exhibition of the Geologisches Institut Tubingen University Germany

by Dolf Seilacher

Bedding planes carry the lithographs of eons bygone. They have been modeled by waves and currents and early creatures inscribed their trackways and burrows on them. Deciphering such documents is the task of sedimentologists and paleontologists. But they may also fascinate non-professionals as raw images, some of which were made long before the first eye could see. The specimens on this display span more than a billion years of earth history and bracket the Cambrian revolution (543 million years ago), the greatest turnover in the history of life. Funded by the Crafoord Prize 1992, a research group from Tübingen University, Germany and Yale University, USA, has investigated rock slabs on five continents, and produced casts of perfect fidelity -- an art in itself.

98 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2008