PE Note: All of the specimens are exact reproductions of bed surfaces produced by the casting efforts of Hans Luginsland. The images are also available at an exhibition at the Geologisches Institut at Tuebingen University in Germany. Slide show of Fossil Art. Stephen J. Gould said: "...in the best traditions of melding art and science, these objects are both lovely to the eye, and inspirational to the brain. They are objects for learning (and often of mystery) as well as visual delights."

Click on thumbnail of image or caption for larger figure (slower loading time). To run the slide show return to the PE splash page.

	COVER 1. Trilobite Pirouette: Upper Cambrian bed soles from Oman, illustrating the exquisitely preserved large looping trace fossil Cruziana semiplicata, a trace thought to be formed by the grazing actions of the trilobite Maladioidella.
	COVER 2. Nature as Fingerpainter: Curiously spiral-shaped micritic crust precipitated on a slab of Upper Jurassic limestone from the "Montenovo" quarry at Westerstetten, Germany.
	COVER 3. The Strange World of Ediacara: Two specimens of the large Ediacaran form Charnodiscus, an animal thought to have lived upright on the seafloor, much like a modern seapen. Cast preserved on a bed sole from the Rawnsley Quarzite of South Australia.
	COVER 4. Worm Burrow Jungle: Bed bottom laden with Arthrophycus, a trace fossil thought to be formed by the burrowing activity of worms, who may have produced such intricate features by creating u-shaped tunnels in fetid seafloor muds. Slabs are from the Silurian Acacus Sandstone of southern Libya.