A FOSSIL PECTEN PLATE MIOCENE (17 MILLION YEARS OLD), BURDIGALIAN, LACOSTE, VAUCLUSE, FRANCE

the rectangular beige coloured panel naturally accumulated and layered with ivory-white fossilised scallops with structured striations of varying sizes, the upper half piled up with larger scallops partially concealing the smaller ones

The natural clustering of this scallop fossil panel is like an organic response to the modern sculptures of the noted French sculptor, César Baldaccini. These group of extinct mollusks (Pectinidae) are believed to originate from the seas in the southeast of France during the Miocene period, the first geological epoch that produced the Earth’s most productive ecosystems. This beautiful, large block of ivory-white limestone, or marine clastic sedimentary rock also called molasse, features an abundant accumulation of adult scallop fossils from the Burgadilian era (15 to 20 million years BC), approximately when the group of marine mollusks (ammonites) went extinct. In very good condition, this present panel was discovered near the chateau of the Marquis of Sade. A similar example can be found in the Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology at the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) in Paris.