Dragonflies were some of the earliest insects with archaic wings that can't fold back. Insects in the fossil record are rare because their delicate bodies deteriorated quickly. This one must have been rapidly buried by sediment and preserved. The Jurassic dragonfly from 200 million years ago is now immortalized in or 6" x 6" tile.

This museum quality tile replicates a fossil fish from ancient lakebeds. Schools of Priscacara swam in fresh water lakes and streams 55 million years ago, feeding on snails and crustaceans. Related to the bass but with features of a sunfish, this fish fossil tile has the fine bone structure of the original fossil.

Dragonfly Fossil

Aeschnogompuhus intermedius

Jurassic

Solnhofen, Germany

Fish Fossil

Priscacara liops

Eocene

Green River, Wyoming, USA

Delicate Jurassic starfish dance across the surface of this ceramic tile just as they did over the sea floor 160 million years ago. These small brittle stars were as common during the time of the dinosaurs as they are today. Though the arms are fragile and often brittle, these sea creatures could regenerate a broken arm.

Giant Lepidodendron trees, 125 feet tall, grew in lush tropical forests that covered most of North America and Europe 300 million years ago. Most of the tree's grass-like foliage was concentrated near the top, directly attached to the trunk like a modern day palm tree. As leaves fell, they left "scars" forming the intricate diamond patterns on this tile.

Small Starfish Fossil

Opphiopinna elegans

Jurassic

Small Tree Bark Fossil

Lepidodendron obovatum

Pennsylvanian

Illinois, USA

Trilobites, hand-shelled animals, ruled the seas 550 million years ago. The Olenoides was discovered in great abundance in the famous Burgess Shale. Discovered in 1909, the Burgess Shale also contained exquisitely preserved soft-bodied animals, extremely rare for the fossil record. This tile was cast from one of the priceless specimens in the Smithsonian collection.

Around 370 million years ago, delicate creatures like this brittle starfish inhabited the muddy sea floor. A perfect starfish fossil is rare, making our replica a unique find. Paleontologists discovered many fossils like this one in an unlikely place---in slate roof tiles of medieval castles dating back to the Roman Empire.

Trilobite Fossil

Olenoides serratus

Cambrian

Alberta, Canada

Large Starfish Fossil

Furcaster zitteli

Upper Devonian

Germany

This extinct fern is as graceful today as it was 300 million years ago. Ferns such as the one replicated on this tile were one of the first seed-bearing plants on earth. Alethopteris grew to heights of over 16 feet, and the accumulation of all of this dead plant matter was buried and compressed into coal. Today, fossil ferns can be found in shale, coal, and ironstone in the Eastern United States and Europe.

Bold and elegant, this Carboniferous tree bark dates back 300 million years when Sigilaria dominated the coal swamps. Their trunks were covered with vertical grooves and leaf cushions. These nubs were actually scars left from fallen leaves. The trunks of these trees grew to over 3 feet in diameter and 100 feet in height.

Fern Fossil

Alethopteris sp.

Pennsylvanian

Europe

Large Tree Bark Fossil

Sigillaria rugosa

Pennsylvanian

Illinois, USA

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