Other forms of preservation

Organisms preserved in amber, mummified in tar or frozen in permafrost are very particular forms of fossils that are extremely rare and important because of the information that they can provide: venation of dragonfly wings, reproductive cells of plants, details of the legs and fangs of spiders, lizard scales, the fine details of feathers, etc.

The term “subfossils” is used for organisms dating to more recent periods of the Cenozoic whose fossilisation is incomplete.

Cymatophlebia longialata
Upper Jurassic, Tithonian
From - 152 to - 145 Ma
Dragonfly trapped in amber

What is amber?

Amber is a fossilised resin which occurs in various colours, shapes and sizes. Numerous ancient organisms are found trapped within it: bacteria, diatoms, ostracods, lizards, plants, insects and even spider webs! Their preservation, often in three dimensions, is therefore exceptional and allows us to observe the finest of details.

The most famous and largest deposit of amber occurs in the Baltic: it is estimated that 640,000 tonnes of amber were deposited there in the Eocene, between 56 and 34 million years ago. The oldest known inclusions are found in the Dolomite Mountains of Italy and date to the Triassic period, around 230 million years ago.

As it flows, resin traps insects that land on it.