To lay your eyes on a fossil is to take a profound glimpse at a time long since passed. Fossils are a beautiful phenomenon which are the remains of prehistoric organisms that are petrified and molded into rock. These amazing impressions can be as old as 3.7 billion years, and as recent as a few million years old. When kids crack open a rock and find a fossil, is it really a rock? Or is it a time capsule encapsulating an entire species? We hope you appreciate these amazing fossils as much as we do, here are 20 fossil photos that will take you back in time. And if you enjoy these check out some more ancient photos showing various animals before they went extinct.
1. The most complete dinosaur fossil ever found.
2. The same leaves, only 5 million years apart.
3. These little micro fossils are too cool.
4. The largest crinoid fossil ever found, Hauff Museum.
5. Megalodon teeth are no joke.
6. This travertine crab was kept almost completely intact.
7. We’re happy we weren’t alive when these guys were.
8. Just when we thought we’ve seen it all, a dining table made of fossils.
9. A supposed 37 million year old whale skeleton found in Egypt.
10. Black beauty, from the Royal Tyrell Museum.
11. Check out this wonderfully large Yorkshire Phylloceras.
12. Pterodactyl fossil in the Berlin Museum.
13. Who knew entire eggs could be fossilized?
14. Whatever dinosaur has vertebrae this huge must be terrifying.
15. This crinoid looks insanely fake.
16. Some of the largest trilobites were around 3 feet long.
17. This is a sea urchin from the late Cretaceous of France.
18. A Pterosaur skull, preserved in 3 dimensions.
19. This massive fossil must be worth a fortune.
20. How old do you think this dinosaur footprint is? We’ll help you out, it’s 200 million years old.
