Ammonites

The beautiful spiral shells of these long-extinct marine invertebrates are among the most sought after and recognizable of fossils, yet little has been published about ammonites outside of geological journals. Neale Monks and Philip Palmer look at the latest ideas on ammonite biology and ecology to present this detailed picture of a once diverse and widespread group of animals. Though an ammonite looks like a nautilus, the animal inside the shell was most closely related to today's octopus, squid, and cuttlefish. The authors describe the evolution of ammonites and their relatives and explain how they created their shells and used them as flotation devices. All the major groups of ammonites are described and illustrated (as are many minor ones), and important material is included on anatomy, feeding, reproduction, and pathology. The 300-million-year existence of ammonites ended at around the same time that dinosaurs became extinct. Fortunately, ammonites were once so abundant that their fossilized shells can be readily found, and the authors provide a helpful guide to locating and collecting these unique fossils.

This book investigates the archaeological, epigraphic, and biblical evidence for the course of Ammon's history, setting it squarely within the context of ancient Near Eastern imperialism. Drawing on cross-cultural parallels from the archaeology of empires, Tyson elucidates the dynamic processes by which the local Ammonite elite made the cousins of biblical Israel visible to history. Tyson explains changes in the region of Ammon during the Iron Age II, namely the increasing numbers of locally produced elite items as well as imports, growth in the use of writing for administrative and display purposes, and larger numbers of sedentary settlements; in the light of the transformative role that the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires played in the ancient Near East. The study also widens the conversation to consider cross-cultural examples of how empires affect peripheral societies.

Additional title page description: Some Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous ammonites date the Buchia zones and furnish correlations with the Boreal and Tethyan Realms.

Description and illustrations of cephalopods of Middle Jurassic (late Bajocian) age.

Descriptions and illustrations of cephalopods of possible late Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) age.

Ammonites furnish correlations with Jurassic rocks elsewhere on the Pacific coast and with the standard European stages.

Published 1887-1907, this illustrated monograph in two volumes offers a comprehensive record of British Aalenian to Lower Bajocian ammonites.