The surprising smiling fossil found on an island in northern England

A small stone seemed to “be smiling at me,” he said.

“It looked like someone’s false teeth.”

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He took it home and posted it on a Facebook fossil identification page.

Thousands of likes and comments later, others seemed to confirm their suspicion that this was, in fact, an ancient marine animal.

Christine travels every year on holiday to the county of Northumberland, in the north of England, with her husband Gerard, where they search for what are known as “Cuddy beads” on the island of Lindisfarne, known as the “holy island”.

This tract of land has only 150 inhabitants, is isolated twice a day by the sea, and is considered the cradle of early English Christianity.

The “beads” are the fossilized parts of the stem of a marine animal called a crinoid, but which was nicknamed after Saint Cuthbert, considered the patron saint of northern England.

“He arrived on the island in the 670s as a monk coming to the priory; he is buried here and miracles occurred around his sanctuary,” explained Dr. Frances McIntosh, curator of collections at the organization. English Heritage.

Hundreds of years later, in the 14th century, these small fossils began to be found. “But it was not known what they were; they believed that Cuthbert made them and that they were part of his spiritual process, and that by collecting them they could become more spiritual,” he said.

And so, the tradition continued and the day after Christmas last year, Clarke was looking for the beads when she saw a completely different looking fossil among the stones on the beach.

“I saw this fossil smiling at me; it’s the first set of teeth I’ve found,” he said jokingly.

The BBC has managed to have the fossil identified by the British Geological Survey (BGS), which confirmed that it is a larger part of a crinoid.

Crinoids are marine animals that first appeared in the Cambrian period, more than 500 million years ago, making them one of the oldest complex animals on the planet, and versions of them still exist today.

It has a flexible stem, attached to the seabed, with branching arms arranged around the main body of the animal at the top of the stem. Although it is an animal, this disposition has earned them the nickname “sea lilies.”

“The stem is made up of small discs, known as ossicles, and what Christine has found are several of these ossicles connected together, forming what is called a column,” explained Dr. Jan Hennissen, senior paleontologist at the BGS.

In the case of the fossil found by Christine, the stem split longitudinally and curved, resembling a smiling mouth.

“It probably comes from a rock formation called the Alston Formation, which is a dark limestone and is about 350 million years old,” Dr. Hennissen said.

It is very rare to find a complete crinoid. Individual discs that make up the stem are usually found and are known as St. Cuthbert’s beads.

Crinoid fossils are among the most common on the Northumberland coast. Dr. Hennissen said it’s usually easy to spot one when you’re there.

“The biological shape is very different from the surrounding rock: it may have a different color or composition,” he explained. “And you can see these very defined lines, unlike the surrounding shale.”

Christine has received offers to sell her fossil but, for now, she intends to keep it.

“A lot of people find it fun,” he said.