Red Dinosaur Gem Bone Pendant Necklace
Please Note: Due to the unique nature of these pendants, they are priced and sold individually. The dominant colors of this particular selection are red and bluish-gray but pay close attention to the coloring in each image. Some may have yellow or orange. There are even a few with an almost gunmetal gray appearance. Without a doubt, they are all stunning.
Red Dinosaur Gem Bone Pendant Necklace
This necklace features a handcrafted dinosaur bone pendant set with sterling silver. This gem-quality material is agatized sauropod bone from the Morrison Formation of Utah. One of the most studied fossil beds of the upper Jurassic Period, the region was once home to a large floodplain ecosystem 150,000,000 years ago.
As pictured, the necklace arrives in a black display box with an 18" (45cm) sterling silver, box-style chain. A small information card about the bone is also included inside. The card serves as the certificate of authenticity and can be found underneath the padded lining of the display box.
Agatized Dinosaur Necklace
These beautiful pendants are made from dinosaur fossil material that has been preserved for millions of years and infused with a brilliant agate. The piece is set into sterling silver, with an 18" chain also made of sterling silver.
Each necklace comes in a decorative box and includes a small information card about the specimens. The card serves as the certificate of authenticity and can be found underneath the padded lining of the display box.
More about Fossil Agates
The stunning pattern seen in these necklaces is a combination of biologic and geologic processes over the course of millions of years. A dinosaur begins the fossilization process after its body is buried by sediment. Over time, groundwater can seep into empty spaces within the organism's body, such as the internal structure of a bone.
This groundwater carries minerals that fill in the gaps, eventually leaving up a buildup of geologic material. This occurs over an extremely long period of time, millions of years at least. Since the process is so gradual, small and delicate details can be preserved in stone, such as the spongy inside of a dinosaur bone seen here or even the gaps in the cell walls of fossil plants.
This material is also known as "Gembone," as the agatized nature of the fossil makes it both an amazing look into the past and a breathtaking mineral to admire.
A Unique Gembone
Due to the nature of fossilization, each pendant will have a unique mix of pattern, color, and shape. The pattern seen here was formed from the internal cavities of the dinosaur's bone, which once allowed blood flow. Over millions of years, the cavities were filled with a beautiful red mineral, which differentiates it from the darker bone structure.
The specific pattern in each pendant is a one-of-a-kind identifier of fossil material. Each necklace displays this amazing prehistoric matrix in its own way, like a Mesozoic-era thumbprint.
Since this fossilization process is dependent on groundwater minerals, the geologic makeup of each fossil is different depending on where it was formed. The red colors of this material indicate that oxidized iron or "hematite" may have been present at the time of fossilization.
SPECIMEN INFORMATION CARD
FRONT
BACK
Further Reading
Prothero, Donald R. 1998 .Bringing fossils to life : An Introduction to Paleobiology. New York: Columbia University Press.
Mustoe, George. “Wood Petrifaction: A New View of Permineralization and Replacement.” Geosciences, vol. 7, pp. 1-17, 2017.
Dumont, Maitena, et al. "Long bone cortices in a growth series of Apatosaurus sp.(Dinosauria: Diplodocidae): geometry, body mass, and crystallite orientation of giant animals." Biological journal of the Linnean Society 112.4 (2014): 782-798.
McHugh, Julia B. "Evidence for niche partitioning among ground-height browsing sauropods from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of North America." Geology of the Intermountain West 5 (2018): 95-103.
Taylor, Michael P., et al. “Were the Necks of Apatosaurus & Brontosaurus Adapted for Combat?” PeerJ Preprints, 3:e1347v1, 2015.
Weishampel, David B., et al. (eds). The Dinosauria – Second Edition. University of California Press, 2004.
Wedel, Matt. “A Giant, Skeletally Immature Individual of Apatosaurus From the Morrison Formation of Oklahoma.” 61st Symposium on Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy - Programme and Abstracts, 2013, pp. 40–45.
