tsterling Posted November 6, 2007 Report Share Posted November 6, 2007 I ran across these on the Web quite by accident, not my photos, they are photos from an oil geologist, P. Cameron who apparently took them in Morocco. It looks like it takes some pretty careful stone carving just to expose these things from the native rock, and the photos are quite skillfully taken as well. Anyway, they are well beyond any trilobites I've ever seen. Just thought some of us might enjoy them - they might even be unusual subjects for netsuke...having just made a post to Leon's "clams in a net" netsuke, I can envision a bunch of these tough-looking characters caught up in a pre-historic Devonian (or is it Precambrian?) epoch net, or just a cool boxwood "rock," with these carved all over the surface, or an archaic squid eating some or, well, you get the picture... Here are a few small samples from his flickr account, and here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pcameronq8/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Ruslander Posted November 6, 2007 Report Share Posted November 6, 2007 I can see a Tom Sterling "Trilobite" knife in the works. I'm sure it would be wicked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Corcoran Posted November 8, 2007 Report Share Posted November 8, 2007 Tom! These photos reminded me of the book Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould. The illustrations in it recreate of some of the many kinds of animals, including trilobites, found in the Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies. I thought while reading it that it would be interesting to try to carve those animals. That was a good while before I knew anything at all about carving. But I had forgotten about that thought until this thread. So I've pulled the book off the shelf and will see if I find something I want to carve! Thanks for reminding me!! Kitty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsterling Posted November 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2007 Sounds interesting, Kitty! Be sure and show us what you come up with... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clive Posted November 13, 2007 Report Share Posted November 13, 2007 Trilobites are facinating.. Did you know they had calcite eyes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsterling Posted November 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2007 Trilobites are facinating.. Did you know they had calcite eyes? I didn't know that...but after I saw this photo I realized they had compound eyes (same photo source as first post). They appear similar to dragonfly eyes. Also makes me wonder what that tongue-looking thing is on this fellow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clive Posted November 13, 2007 Report Share Posted November 13, 2007 I didn't know that...but after I saw this photo I realized they had compound eyes (same photo source as first post). They appear similar to dragonfly eyes. Also makes me wonder what that tongue-looking thing is on this fellow! The compound trilobite eye is actually made up of calcite crystals.. this is totally unique charateristic found only in trilobites... and bit of a headache for students of evolutionary theory like myself. Trilobites don't get the credit they deserve you know, they are the most successful critters that have ever lived on our planet and yet the those great big stupid lizards get all the glory. http://www.trilobites.info/eyes.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsterling Posted November 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2007 Nice link, Clive. Just goes to show that you can learn something new every day you're above ground. I especially like the eyes that looked like a compound eye submarine periscope (towards the bottom of the page). http://www.trilobites.info/eyes.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janel Posted November 14, 2007 Report Share Posted November 14, 2007 Fascinating creatures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Nostro Titus Posted November 19, 2007 Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 They always fascinated me, but I've never seen such beauties. Around here they tend to look rather "normal". I am fortunate for the fact that I can visit the local trilobite fossils and trackways in the local mountain when I get time for a 2 hour stroll. The Bokkeveld shales from which I source some of my waterstones contain a lot of trilobite fossils, it is actually a challenge to find a clean piece of rock devoid of fossils. Marius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janel Posted November 19, 2007 Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 Hi Marius! It is good to see you here again! Thank you for the little bit of geologic description of where you live, with the local mountain that bears sedimentary, ocean deposits. How fortunate you are to be able to view the trilobite fossils. Would you be willing to describe, in the Tools and Materials area of the forum, about collecting and preparation of the water stones? I am fascinated that one can do this. I have questions, too. Janel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ko Baas Posted December 23, 2007 Report Share Posted December 23, 2007 This trilobite post is very interesting and inspired me to carve a trilobite netsuke. See some pics below: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsterling Posted December 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2007 Very cool, Ko! Glad to see these stimulated a little work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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