**Originally Listed At $450**

North America, Midwestern United States, Indiana, Crawfordsville, lower Mississippian, ca. 345 million years ago. A fascinating crinoid fossil within a gray stone, excavated and raised slightly above the surrounding matrix surface - the textural ridges of stems and other delicate anatomical features are well preserved! The crown has arms with feathery looking pinnules, which helped this creature filter food, and protruding from the crown is the anal tube. The preparation work that went into this piece to remove all the rock between the arms and stem sections to the level was extremely time-consuming and has yielded a fascinating display example. Size: 5.2" L x 3" W (13.2 cm x 7.6 cm)

Crinoids in Crawfordsville are highly desirable for their size, quality, and diversity of species. Many species of crinoids continue to live today, but during the prehistoric periods, they were much more abundant, and these animals would have been vibrant parts of that newly diverse ecosystem! Crinoids lived in shallow water and were often buried by sediment and silt during storms, where they fossilized. The relatively soft siltstone of the Indiana formation is ideal for excavating the crinoids and exposing amazing details from the once organic material.

Provenance: private Berthoud, Colorado, USA collection

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#184662

Professionally excavated and prepared. Excavated to be slightly raised above the surface and are excellent with great preservation to details. Matrix is intact.