Fossils

A fossil is any trace of a once-living organism, plant or animal, preserved in the rock. The study of fossils is called Palaeontology.

Alongside the fossils discussed in the Local Geology section, Bolton also holds collections that illustrate most of the fossil groups found in Britain.You can learn more about some of these in this section.

Pterosaurs

This unassuming specimen is probably one of the best in our collections. It is the lower arm bone of a pterosaur, a winged reptile that lived at the time of the dinosaurs.

Trilobites

Trilobites are one of the most famous and distinctive fossil groups. They first appeared in the Late Cambrian, nearly 500 million years ago, making them one of the earliest known complex lifeforms. Now extinct, they last roamed the Earth more than 250 million years ago.

Ammonites

Ammonites lived from around 400 million to 65 million years ago. The group described in the following section are all from the Mesozoic era, the same time as the dinosaurs. This was when the ammonites were at their most diverse and successful.

Marine Reptiles

The fossil shown in this section is the skull of an Ichthyosaur or “Fish-lizard”. The back of its skull, seen from beneath, is to the left of the picture with the jaws pointing into the bottom-right corner.

Fossil Fish

Bolton Museum has a number of good fish fossils, local, British and also from America. The fossil in the following section is a type of fish called Dapedium which lived during the lower Jurassic period, 200-175 million years ago.

Shark Teeth

The following section describes a collection of teeth from three different species of shark.

Fossil turtle

This is an example of a turtle fossil. It is 50 million years old and a testament to the longevity of these creatures.