Fossil Records in the Pantry Stone

A Kitchen Wall with a History

Imani's family has three stone panels beside the kitchen pantry doorway. After workers finish installing them, Imani notices shapes in the stone. The supplier sends photographs and records made before the panels were installed. A scientist identified the shapes as fossils: remains or traces of living things from long ago.

The panels were cut from one natural rock bed at a distant quarry, a place where workers remove stone. The supplier's photograph shows that the quarry is now on a dry, grassy hillside. There is no lake there today. A truck carried the panels to the kitchen. The records describe the quarry's rock, not rock beneath the family's home.

The scientist recorded each identifiable fossil in the three panels. The first graph shows those counts. These panels are a small sample of the rock bed. The fish fossils have complete outlines, including fins and bony backbones. The scientist measured all nine fish fossils from head to tail. The second graph shows their lengths.

To identify the fossils, the scientist compared their features with living things. The fish fossils match fish that live in fresh water. Living fish use fins to help move and steer in water. The coiled shells match lake snails that live in fresh water; their hard shells protect soft bodies. The leaves have vein patterns matching pondweed, a plant rooted in shallow fresh water. Reef coral, included for comparison, matches animals that live in seawater. The fossils do not preserve the original colors of these living things.