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Places FeaturesYou are in: Humber > Places > Places Features > Mrs. Stockhill Goes on an ammonite hunt  Ammonite found in rocks at Bridlington Mrs. Stockhill Goes on an ammonite huntMrs. Stockhill Hello, for those of you who haven't heard of me. I am a retired hairdresser and I live in Bridlington with my husband Barry. Now that we are both retired we like to go out rambling and exploring.  Mrs. Stockhill
Later, thanks to Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Humberside, we got in touch with Nigel Whittington of the Hull Geological Society and asked him a few questions about what we'd found. Nigel: Hard to say for certain but my guess, as they're very common, is that it's a Dactyloceras commune which means the " Common finger ammonite ". They lived in the lower Jurassic era about 180 million years ago. How did it end up on the beach in Bridlington? Nigel: The Ammonites lived and died in the Jurassic or Cretaceous seas. When they died they became entombed in mud which later turned into rock. The rock was later lifted up by earth movements.  Bridlington Beach The fossils were then ripped from the rock by glaciers during the last great Ice Age and dumped in a jumbled mass in the boulder clay of Holderness as the glaciers retreated 15 000 thousand years ago. As the coast of Holderness is eroded by the North Sea, the fossils fall onto the beach where you can find them today. Are there any ammonites alive today? Nigel: They all died out in the mass extinction that saw the end of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. But some of their distant relatives are still found in our modern seas. The Pearly Nautilus, Octopus and the Cuttlefish. Ammonites were probably intelligent and active hunters of small fish. Where is the best place to find ammonite fossils?  Mrs. Stockhill carrying rocks Nigel: Ammonites turn up all along the Holderness Coast, but probably the best place to find them is further north around Whitby, Port Mulgrave and the Peak, south of Robin Hood's bay. One attraction of looking for them on the Holderness beaches is that it's better for conservation as anything not collected will end up being destroyed by erosion anyway and you don’t need to hammer away at the cliffs to find the fossils. Were there lots of different sorts of ammonites? Nigel: Ammonites evolved rapidly and any given species may only have existed for a few million years, so you you can use them to tell how old a piece of rock is. You'll find lots of different sorts if you look for them. By the way, Ammonites feature in the coat of arms of Whitby and in ancient times people believed they were serpents, turned to stone. Fancy that! Thank you Nigel. last updated: 07/07/2008 at 16:09 SEE ALSOYou are in: Humber > Places > Places Features > Mrs. Stockhill Goes on an ammonite hunt
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