|
This relates to the oldest known air-breathing land animal: a tiny millipede that lived 428 million years ago.
The fossil, Pneumodesmus newmani, is a 1 cm long fragment of millipede arthropod.
It was discovered in a layer of sandstone rocks on Cowie foreshore in Stonehaven by Mike Newman, a bus driver and fossil enthusiast from Aberdeen.
How did the oldest known air breathing animal in the world come to be found in here? What’s so special about Stonehaven?
To find out we have to go back a long way, well before the great age of the fossil itself (428 million years).
We have to understand how the sandstone sediment in which the dead animal was buried, came to be formed.
We also have to appreciate how the animal was preserved as a fossil and survived numerous geological events affecting its host sandstone until it finally came to light in January 2003.
The exhibition will provide you with all the details. Please visit
The Tolbooth Museum
The Harbour
Stonehaven
AB39 2JU
Opening Hours 2008
Unfortunately the exhibition is not available at The Tolbooth this year
|
