A STROMATOLITE SPECIMEN

A STROMATOLITE SPECIMEN

Morocco

A gorgeous natural concretion of a deep red-orange, measuring 60 cm tall on a custom stand. 

Stromatolites are the oldest fossils on Earth, and bear witness to the emergence and evolution of biological life on our planet. Formed from cyanobacteria, their name derives from the Greek "stroma", meaning cushion or layer, due to the fact that they are formed by strata of unicellular organisms living in colonies. Most frequently, stromatolites are carbonate, but siliceous stromatolites can also be found. The fossil record of stromatolites is surprisingly large, spanning nearly four billion years of geological history, with living organisms that have lived in every imaginable environment to have existed on Earth.