Fossil Crinoid Plate, Scyphocrinites elegans
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"These fossil crinoid plates are of Scyphocrinites elegans, an extinct crinoid found in Morocco. Crinoids are stunning, beautiful and perhalps one of life's most unusual animals. They are from the Devonian Period and are about 400 million years old. Sometimes called sea lilies because of their flower like appearance these animals lived on the ancient sea floor filtering the water for their food.
There are lots of crinoid fossils in Morocco. Getting Scyphocrinites elegans out of the ground is no easy task. The Crinoids lie in a horizontal layer about 20 feet below the surface. The Moroccan crinoid miners dig a verticle shaft down 20 feet, then tunnel horizontally until they find crinoids. Then they have to dig around the fossil layer to free it from the surrounding soil. The fossils are brought up in pieces and reassembled, glued back together, cleaned and preped. The miners sell to local fossil dealers who ship to fossil shows around the world.
Digging Moroccan Crinoids
The Verticle Shaft
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Getting to the Crinoids
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Reassembling a Crinoid Plate
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The Timeline of Moroccan Crinoids
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Paleozoic Era
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Mesozoic Era
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Cambrian Period
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Ordovician Period
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Silurian Period
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Devonian Period
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Carboniferous Period
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Permian Period
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Triassic Period
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Jurssic Period
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Cretaceous Period
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