Kresin, North Bohemia, Sept 15 (CTK) – A woman from Kresin has uncovered giant petrified shells of prehistoric cephalopods in the Ohre River, the biggest with a diameter of over 80 cm and weighing 200 kg, experts from the Usti nad Labem regional museum told CTK yesterday.
They have succeeded in pulling the shells out of the river.
The shells on the river bottom became visible after the water in the Ohre subsided as a result of a recent drought.
They could be seen for a short time only, however, as the level of the Ohre, with a series of weirs and a large water reservoir, is quite stable even in extreme droughts, unlike other Czech rivers.
The finder, Jaroslava Vogelova, said the shells she spotted in the river and of which two were easy to recognise for their coiled shape, took her by surprise and she invited experts to look at them.
The archaeologists digged them out using hand tools.
“They may be about 90 million years old. The river bottom is formed by Mesozoic argillite, which often contains fossils,” Zuzana Varilova, a geologist from the museum, said.
The shells will be added to the museum collections that have contained 17 cephalopod fossils so far, the largest with a diameter of 60 cm.
rtj/dr/ms
