Ancient Romans doubtless used extinct sea creature fossils as amulets

At the Roman settlement of A Cibdá de Armea in northwestern Spain, archaeologists uncovered proof suggesting that historic Romans adorned their amulets with fossils of extinct marine arthropods, like trilobites, probably rooted within the perception that these specimens carried magical or protecting powers.

Dated to between the first and third centuries CE, the found trilobite fossil holds a number of outstanding distinctions: it’s the first ever confirmed from Roman instances, one in every of solely three identified worldwide to have been intentionally collected and utilized by people over a thousand years in the past, and the eleventh trilobite ever present in an archaeological context.

The Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences study reported that the fossil confirmed clear indicators of intentional modifications made to be worn as a pendant or bracelet.

The trilobite fossil has distinctive taphonomic markers—clues that inform us how and the place it was preserved over time. Researchers discovered the fossil preserved as a pure solid mineralized with iron oxide, giving it a particular reddish hue—proof of deep weathering much like that seen in specimens from the southern Central Iberian Zone, situated roughly 430 kilometers from the invention website. This appreciable distance factors to intentional transport by the traditional Romans.

The trilobite was unearthed in the identical archaeological layer as a bronze coin of Emperor Augustus, which is not shocking because it aligns with historic accounts describing Augustus’s fascination with fossils throughout the Roman period.

According to the historian Suetonius, Augustus was an avid collector who not solely imported fossils from Greece but additionally personally excavated them on the island of Capri. He can also be credited with creating one of many first identified paleontological museums at his villa, the place he displayed the bones of historic giants and monsters, which we name fossils.

The researchers recognized the trilobite as Colpocoryphe sp., based mostly on its segmented exoskeleton, two longitudinal furrows, two clean pleural fields (chest lobes) on both aspect of the tail part, and the proportional width of the rachis—the central lobe working down the center of the physique.

The researchers didn’t discover any holes or perforations within the fossil that may have been required to show it into a private decoration. However, they hypothesize that the trilobite might nonetheless have been worn as jewellery, most likely set utilizing a crimp or embedded in metallic like gold or silver.

Microscopic examination and high-contrast pictures of the fossil revealed human-made modifications, equivalent to seven synthetic sides on the left and underside of the specimen, which have been doubtless created to flatten the fossil to be used inside a pendant or bracelet.

This research demonstrates how a single artifact, unearthed from the previous, can act as a window into the lives and beliefs of historic civilizations.

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