Walsall boy, 6, finds '488-million-year-old' fossil in garden
▶𝑨 𝒔𝒊𝒙-𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓-𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒍 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒍-𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒌𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒔.
▶Siddak Singh Jhamat, known as Sid, said he was "excited" to find the fossil in his garden in Walsall after digging for worms.
▶His father was able to identify the horn coral through a fossil group he is a member of on Facebook.
▶Vish Singh estimates the fossil is between 251 and 488 million years old.
▶"I was just digging for worms and things like pottery and bricks and I just came across this rock which looked a bit like a horn, and thought it could be a tooth or a claw or a horn, but it was actually a piece of coral which is called horn coral," the schoolboy said.
▶"I was really excited about what it really was."
▶Mr Singh added: "We were surprised he found something so odd-shaped in the soil... he found a horn coral, and some smaller pieces next to it, then the next day he went digging again and found a congealed block of sand.
▶"In that there were loads of little molluscs and sea shells, and something called a crinoid, which is like a tentacle of a squid, so it's quite a prehistoric thing."
▶Mr Singh said the fossil's markings mean it is most likely a Rugosa coral, estimated to be between 251 to 488 million years old.
▶"The period that they existed from was between 500 and 251 million years ago, the Paleozoic Era," he said.
▶"England at the time was part of Pangea, a landmass of continents. England was all underwater as well... that's quite significant expanse of time."
▶The family said that they do not live in an area known for its fossils, like the Jurassic Coast in the south of England, but that they do have a lot of natural clay in the garden where the fossils were found.
▶"Lots and lots of people have commented on how amazing it is to find something in the back garden," Mr Singh said.
▶"They say you can find fossils anywhere if you look carefully enough, but to find a significantly large piece like that is quite unique."
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- Oanh KendyAs a kid, I spent so many hours with my eyes focused on the ground in our local gravel pit. I found many small coral...
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- 3 years ago