Fossilien und Steindruck Museum; where does the name limestone come from?
This museum, formerly the Maxberg Museum, is in Guzenhausen. Once again we found splendid fossils, beautifully preserved and prepared but first we saw some lovely exhibits such as this "pietra dura" style floor in the Ottobeuren monastery, and a coat of arms.
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| Coat of arms in stone |
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| The Kaisersaal in Ottobeuren monastery |
There were also some lovely examples of natural stone - liesegang rings, manganese dendrites, and also stone carved to make use of natural features
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| Faulted liesegang rings |
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| Manganese dendrites |
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| Carving using the natural markings of the stone |
Limestone used in the Roman defensive border, the "Limes", demonstrated its use over two millenia.
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| Limes exhibit |
I've wondered about the etymology of lime/limestone and Limes: which came first? Limestone is called that because it is a stone which creates lime when burnt.
Was this stone used to build the Limes, and burnt to use for whitewash and is that why it was called "Limes stone"?
The Roman noun limes could denote various types of boundary; Roman walls and forts were generally whitewashed using burnt lime to create "limewash" as our own grandparents did.
The fossils
Far too many examples (and loads of photos) to show all of them but some that I found particularly striking were these:
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| This shows the incredibly good, and rare, preservation of musculature in a jellyfish |
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| A large cuttlefish - another mainly soft bodied fossil |
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| Crinoid head and stem |
As well as soft bodied animals there were hard bodied fossils including lovely crinoids.
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| Crinoid cup - again amazing detail! |
Something else particularly intriguing was the various tool marks on some bedding planes.
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| Ammonite rollmarks |
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| More ammonite rollmarks |
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| Wave movement of a twig on a floating branch |
There were also examples of lithographic printing and the blocks from which prints were made
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| Lithographic block - I liked the sardine tin lables! |
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Bank notes, playing cards and matchbox labels!
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An amazing amount of work went into producing these labels in the days before computers!
Fossilienbesuchersteinbruch Muhlheim
This was a convenient venue for lunch as there were tables and chairs, and also coffee to buy!
As before this is geared up to visitors - amateur geologists and collectors, and is in the overlying Mörnsheim Formation.
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| Plenty of informative information boards |
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| Bavarian TV filming the "launch" of #13 Alcmonavis poeschlii, found in the quarry by Roland Poeschl |
The Berger Museum at Harthof
Once again, some wonderful fossils to examine, so just a selection here
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| A crustacean |
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| A lovely ammonite - shame about the shadow :( |
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| A fish catching its dinner |
Finally we had a slightly damp walk to the adjacent quarry to see what we could find. There were particularly nice manganese/iron dendrites here and also some intriguing slumping in the bedding.
We had a summary talk from John in the evening after our three days of museums and quarries. Tomorrow we are off to Nordlingen to examine the meteorite crater and deposits.
This was a convenient venue for lunch as there were tables and chairs, and also coffee to buy!
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