Archaeologists Found an Ancient Fossil That Doubled as a Sacred Roman Amulet

“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.”

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

Archaeologists discovered a trilobite fossil in Spain, likely from the Roman era.
The trilobite fossil is only the 11^th ever found worldwide in an archaeological context, and the first linked to the Romans.
Made into a pendant or bracelet, the wearer likely believed the fossil had magical healing powers.

Archaeologists discovered a trilobite fossil from millions of years ago in a Roman-era dump near what is now Galicia, Spain. And according to the team’s analysis, that fossil had likely been refashioned into an amulet.

This is only the 11^th known discovery of a trilobite—a now-extinct class of marine arthropods reminiscent of armored beetles—in an archaeological context, and it came from a Roman settlement dating to some time during the first through third centuries A.D.

“The specimen represents the first confirmed trilobite from Roman times and is the third trilobite in the global archaeological record to have been collected and used by people over a thousand years ago,” the archeologists wrote in a study published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.

Trilobites lived in our oceans as far back as 520 million years ago. They came in a huge number of varieties, but this particular specimen was a member of the the genus Colpocoryphe, which populated oceans during the Ordovician period 450 million years ago. The iron oxide and reddish tone of the fossil tell scientists that it originally came from the south-central Iberian Peninsula, showing that the piece was brought to modern-day Spain as a highly valued prize along Roman trade routes.

“The modifications observed on the underside of the specimen, which exhibits up to seven artificial wear facets to flatten and shape the fossil, are interpreted as indicating its possible use within a pendant or bracelet,” the archaeologists wrote, “likely serving as an amulet with magical or protective properties.”

The fossil was likely set in either metal or leather, and the full piece of jewelry was most likely roughly 1.5 inches long.

The fossil was found alongside a bronze coin bearing the face of Augustus, who was a fossil collector and founded the first known paleontological museum. Adolfo Fernandez (one of the archaeologists involved in the discovery) said in a translated statement that the find helps show how Roman emperors’ interest in large fossils—which may have stemmed from a belief that they held some sort of protective or healing quality—translated to the popularization of Roman-era jewelry formed from or inspired by those fossils.

“Usually, they ended up serving as offerings or votive deposits in religious places, temples, or simple places of veneration,” the authors wrote. “Unfortunately, there are only a few cases of invertebrate fossils recovered in Roman archaeological contexts, which limits our understanding of the phenomenon.”

Fernandez said that this piece could have been part of the inspiration of an entire series of Roman-era black glass jewelry pieces crafted in the shapes of trilobites. “Artisans sought to reproduce the thoracic metameres of a trilobite, endowing the new pieces with the qualities of the original material,” the study authors wrote. “The Armea trilobite reveals that the Romans were already aware of ancestral animals beneath the ground, and such objects, understood in this way, were highly valued as ‘sacred’ with strong protective qualities.”

That fascination, though, didn’t last forever. The amulet was discovered in what is now considered a “dumping ground” for Roman home goods, nestled alongside discarded Roman pottery. It must not have done its job too well.

You Might Also Like