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Fossils: More than a scientific tool By
Shauna Wolf
Fossils, the ancient life forms found in rocks, have progressed beyond scientific tools to become works of art. Tom Lindgren, owner of Green River Geological Labs in Logan, has been playing with rocks his whole life. He has turned something he loves doing into a career. "It's more than a job to me, it is a love affair," said Lindgren. He said he wants to bring his love affair to all people. Millions-of-years-old fossilized ocean life, dinosaurs, mammals, reptiles, insects and plants have been researched and studies for years by paleontologists. What some paleontologists have discovered is that fossils are beautiful and people like to collect them. There are only a handful of companies that sell fossils as art work in the United States. Green River Geological Labs is one of the very few companies that has taken the study of fossils to a new level, an artistic level. It sells the fossils dug out of its quarry, called Smith Hollow, in Kemmerer, Wyo. The fossils, found in limestone, are brought to the lab where they are professionally and artistically prepared with high tech tools for the market. Most of the selling is through the Internet on their web page, stonejungle, and auctions to large corporations, businesses and private owners. The company has a private gallery in Logan. Actual fossil sizes range from 1-inch tiny fish, plants or insects to 5-foot-long turtles, crocodiles, boa constrictors and a 7-foot palm frond, now in the Little America Restaurant in Salt Lake City. Some pieces are combinations of a variety of fossils and range in size from 3 inches by 4 inches, to 8 feet by 32 feet. "People love and buy the pieces because it is unlike any other kind of art work you can find anywhere in the world," said Jerome Montgomery, manager and head artist at the lab. "It is unique, a part of history and beautiful." Imagine these beautiful fine pieces of art work, which hang in multi-billionaire corporate lobbies and offices, being used in a functional manner, such as a highly polished, finely worked dining table, a coffee table or a counter top, and even floor tiling. All of these things can now be done with real ancient fossils in them. Lindgren's new idea is to turn the art work into something functional. Lindgren believes this new style can become the couture of home decorating. There are other companies that sell slabs of limestone with traces of real fossils in them, such as European Marble and Graniteof Salt Lake City, the largest dealer in the state. Kris White, a sales associate, said they get all their rocks with fossils in them from out of the country, such as Portugal and the most famous, Morocco, where all the really good stone and fossil come from. When ordering, they pay an exorbitant amount to ship the product here. She doesn't ask for a piece with fossil in it, but rather, the type of rock that may contain small or light traces of fossil in them, like lens or rosal, versus the singly prepared, hand-crafted fossils. Lindgren said he has found himself on the cutting edge of something new and different. He says he feels a little like Bill Gates when he first started Microsoft. He can now offer people a finely-tuned functional piece of art work, with little overhead. "The new millennium has found a new way to decorate and it is beautiful," said Montgomery. Writers in the UseNet news group, sci.bio.paleontology, said they had only seen cast moldings of fossils in tables and counter tops, because the rock the fossils are found in, particularly limestone, tend to not hold up as well as other counter tops such as marble. Many times limestone can be porous, easily stained, and chipped. Marble may be the most solid rock found for counter tops, but it is a metamorphic rock, formed by pressure and temperature within the earth where few animals lived. During the process most living organisms are destroyed. On rare occasions, soft marble can produce, lightly visible fossils. This is comparable with the durability of limestone. Lindgren said he has found excellent sealers with great resistance, which will hold up under most circumstances. A fossil table top would be comparable to a finely finished oak table top and should be taken care of in the same fashion. When one has a fine piece of art work designed to be used in a functional way, one must take greater care of that piece by using a table cloth, hot pad, and polish for protection. Fossilized floor tiles can be used just about anywhere in a house, such as a front door entry, the kitchen, a bathroom and even bedrooms. Their upkeep is comparable to a hard wood floor because it needs to be sealed, waxed and polished from time to time, Lindgren said. Lindgren said when someone makes fossils part of their home, it is more than just decorating, it is letting a part of history into their lives. It's a part of history that no human being has ever laid eyes on, he said. Roger Nelson, from Logan, has fossil tile in his home in the front entry. He said it needs less maintenance than his wood floors. Scratches aren't as visible, he said, and it rarely needs to be cleaned and looks a lot better. "I didn't know it was referred to as tile," Nelson said. "It's a very unique picture on the floor, a one of a kind." Danielle Ward, sales representative from Color Tile, said most people don't know fossil tile exists. Local stores like Apex Marble and Cache Valley Countertops sell the cast molding, not the authentic fossils. Usually only one or two different fossil shapes are available. "They are distinctively different and I can tell the difference from a real fossil and a fake," said Ward. Fossils can be a tricky thing to work with. The federal and state governments like to be very much involved in what people can keep and how they can dig for it. If one is leasing the property, such as Lindgren was doing in the beginning, he had to pass everything he found through the Fossil Butte National Monument and U.S. Forest Service. In the Green River Formation, Lindgren said they usually find fossil fish because they are working in the Eocene era of fossil beds. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, most fossils that are being studied now have been excavated during the last 100 years. Montgomery said most of the fossils they have excavated have already been sent to various museums, such as Dinosaur National Monument in Utah Valley, the largest dinosaur museum in the world. He said they still find rare piece once in a while that has not yet been discovered, like a historical bat unlike any other yet seen. They have to watch out for the Paleontology Society, which has rules and regulations for everyone to follow and lobbies the government for the laws. Additional resources: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/1998/agate/pale.htm http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/FAQ/faq.htm http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov.resource/1998/agate/life.htm http://www.tpi.iserver.net/museum/
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