Overview
- Christine Clark found a pebble on Holy Island, Northumberland, that resembled a set of teeth and shared images on a Facebook fossil-identification page.
- The British Geological Survey identified the object as part of a crinoid, with Dr. Jan Hennissen explaining the apparent teeth are stem discs, or ossicles, joined in a columnal.
- The specimen is probably from the Alston Formation, a dark limestone dated to roughly 350 million years ago.
- Crinoids are echinoderms that first appeared about 500 million years ago, and complete fossils are uncommon compared with the small stem discs often found locally.
- On Holy Island those discs are known as St Cuthbert’s beads, and the unusual find drew thousands of online reactions and purchase offers that Clark says she will decline.