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Description: | Fossils form an important part of the collections of the Bell Pettigrew Museum as they help us to understand the history of the Earth and the life upon it. Two display cases are dedicated to fossils.
One contains fossils found at Dura Den, a small village approximately 6 miles from St Andrews. There, under 300 feet of yellow sandstone, several examples of extinct lobe-finned fish and lung fish, and the coelacanth were excavated, after the initial discovery of fossils there in 1827. Excavations of fossils of fishes were made at Dura Den at various times in the 19th century, including during an excavation in 1861 funded by the British Association and supervised by Matthew Forster Heddle, a founding member of the Mineralogical Society, London and President of the Geological Society of Edinburgh who was to become Professor of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews, 1862-1883. (One of the new species of fish discovered, Gyroptychius heddlei, was named for Heddle). The fossils excited much interest. Several species of fishes that were new to science were discovered, and their extraordinary preservation allowed detailed research and accurate anatomical reconstructions. The fishes were examined by several prominent scientists, including Lyell and Agassiz, and their bone structures fuelled the debate on evolution.
In the second case there is an assortment of fossils from around the world including Ammonite Titanites giganticus (about 140 million years old) found in Dorset; Madagascan fossil wood (225 million years old); and a primitive marine oephalopod possessing a shell from Morocco (380 million years old). | Subjects: | ZOOLOGY fossil GEOLOGY | Source: | University of St Andrews | Address: | KY16 9AJ | Contributor: | University of St Andrews | Identifier: | BP:C52 | Language: | en-GB | Relation: | MC:C48 |
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