Ammonite Jar and Lid. This beautiful ammonite jar and lid is from Morocco. The ammonites are fossilized sea creatures in a bedrock of marble stone. The fossil on the top center of the lid is a goniatite. Goniatites are Ammonoids with a distinctive goniotitic zig-zag pattern in the sutures that mark the spiraling growth of the shell. Goniatites are an extinct group of ammonite, which are related to the nautiloids. They lived early in the Devonian period, some 400 to 450 million years ago, and became extinct during the Permian period. This specimen is from the Sahara Desert in Morocco. Ammonites are perhaps the most widely known fossil, possessing the typically ribbed spiral-form shell. The name ammonite originates from the Greek Ram-horned god called Ammon. Ammonites belong to a group of predators known as cephalopods, which includes their living relatives the octopus, squid, cuttlefish and nautilus.The other markings on the jar and lid are other fossilized sea creatures such as orthoceras. This jar weighs 1.73 lbs, measures 4.5 inches diameter and 3 inches high.
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