Snakestone (5.0 cm across) - a Dactylioceras commune ammonite with carved snake head, from the Yorkshire coast of England.

Ammonites from the Whitby area of England have inspired interesting legends & folklore. St. Hilda (614-680 A.D.), an early abbess of Whitby, is said to have cleared the area of snakes by cutting off their heads & throwing them over the cliffs. Whitby locals have been carving snake heads on genuine ammonite fossils for centuries. These “snakestones” have been valued as lucky charms and were perceived to have medical value at one time. Many rocks, fossils, and minerals were long ago considered by superstitious minds to be curatives.

Classification: Animalia, Mollusca, Cephalopoda, Ammonoidea, Ammonitina, Dactylioceratidae

Stratigraphy & age: Whitby Formation, Toarcian Stage, upper Lower Jurassic.

Locality: Yorkshire coast, England.

Ammonites are common & conspicuous fossils in Mesozoic marine sedimentary rocks. Ammonites are an extinct group of cephalopods - they’re basically squids in coiled shells. The living chambered nautilus also has a squid-in-a-coiled-shell body plan, but ammonites are a different group.