Sunday 27 June 2021

IN PRAISE OF FOSSIL LAGERSTÄTTEN


A Lagerstätte is a sedimentary deposit with extraordinary fossils with exceptional preservation — sometimes preserving soft tissues when we are very lucky. 

When you see a specimen and it makes you go 'whoah' — that is a good indication that you are likely seeing one of the wonderfully preserved goodies from these marvellous sites.

There are about 50 sites we collectively describe as Lagerstätten — though there are many more sites that could reasonably be argued for — and they are. The list below gives you a place to start but it is by no means exhaustive and will grow as more sites are found and explored.

If you are curious about checking out these wonderfully preserved sites, pay a visit to @FossilBonanza, the Twitter home of Andy, an educator at NHMU. On both his @FossilBonanza Twitter stream and his podcast of the same name, Andy gushes about Lagerstätten from around the globe.

He's also created a rather clever interactive map of the world’s Lagerstätten divided by time period. You can visit here: https://maphub.net/FossilBonanza/Lagerstatte. To listen to the Fossil Bonanza Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../fossil-bonanza/id1535645906