Fossil Ammonite cut in half. The backside is the outer shell. The drops are approximately 1.1 inches in length. The 22 gauge Sterling Silver earwires are approximately one inch in length. The total earring length is 1.4 inches. Ammonoids are an extinct group of marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid, & cuttlefish) than they are to shelled nautiloids such as the living Nautilus species. The earliest ammonites appear during the Devonian, & the last species died out during the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event. The name “ammonite” was inspired by the spiral shape of their fossilized shells, which somewhat resemble tightly coiled rams’ horns. Pliny the Elder (d. 79 AD near Pompeii) called fossils of these animals ammonis cornua (“horns of Ammon”) because the Egyptian god Ammon (Amun) was typically depicted wearing ram’s horns. Often the name of an ammonite genus ends in -ceras, which is Greek (κέρας) for “horn”. Fossil Ammonite & Sterling Silver Earrings Handmade By Chris Hay
