SEA COLLECTION
Fossil and figurehead treasures on display at Woodward Marine Market.
Ammonite
Perisphinctes
Ammonite is an extinct marine mollusc, of the class Cephalopoda. They had a chambered shell that was used for buoyancy. Ammonite are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish).
Jurassic Period
165 Million Years Old
Madagascar
Ammonite Cluster
Acanthoceras
Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine molluscs of the class Cephalopoda. They had chambered shells that were used for buoyancy. Ammonite are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish).
Cretaceous Period
109 Million Years Old
Morocco
FOSSIL CRINOID
Scyphocrinites
Crinoids, commonly referred to as sea lilies, are animals, not plants. They are echinoderms related to starfish, sea urchins, and brittle stars.
Upper Silurian Period
420 Million Years Old
Boutschrafin, Morocco
Pyritized crinoid
Seirocrinus Subangularis
Crinoids, commonly referred to as sea lilies, are animals, not plants. They are echinoderms related to starfish, sea urchins, and brittle stars.
Jurassic Period
200 Million Years Old
Holzmaden, Germany
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Queen of France, 1137-1152 King Louis VII
Queen of England, 1154-1189 King Henry II
Duchess of Aquitaine, 1137-Until her death in 1204
Eleanor of Aquitaine proudly sat on the bow of a full-rigged ship circa 1860’s, long after her death in 1204. We believe she was chosen to be placed in such a prominent position due to her strength in leadership and how well she was respected during both of her reigns as Queen in France and then England.
She was the heir of the House of Poitiers, and one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. Eleanor of Aquitaine was known for her wisdom, courage, humility, elegance, and sophistication. She led armies several times as she presided over law courts in the King’s absence. She was a key leading figure of the Second Crusade. Later generations of her ancestors of both France and England would see her as the ideal queen—both beautiful and wise. Many later Queens were said to have modeled themselves after her.
Two of her daughters went on to become Queens and three of her sons went on to become Kings themselves.
She now has a prominent place, looking out to sea again.