Collection: Turitella Agate

Turritella agate is a unique and fascinating stone, both for its mineralogical properties and its paleontological origin. Here's a detailed overview:

🌿 What is Turritella Agate?

Despite its name, Turritella agate is not technically an agate in the strict sense, and it does not contain actual Turritella fossils , as its name suggests. It is actually a fossil brown chalcedony (a variety of microcrystalline quartz) that contains well-preserved fossils of marine gastropods of the genus Elimia —a historical confusion due to the resemblance in shape to shells of the genus Turritella .

🦴 Origin and training

• Age : Eocene (about 45 to 50 million years ago)

• Location : Mainly found in the Green River Formation , in the state of Wyoming (USA).

• Formation : This stone was formed when the shells of fossilized gastropods were silicified, that is, infiltrated by silica, which then crystallized into chalcedony, creating a very hard and decorative rock.

🎨 Appearance

• Background color: brown to dark brown

• Fossils: white or light beige spirals (shell shapes)

• Appearance: Often polished for jewelry or decoration, which highlights the contrast between the fossils and the dark matrix

🔮 Use and properties in lithotherapy

• Grounding and stability : associated with the earth, it is believed to promote inner security and rootedness.

• Ancestral memory : linked to the memory of past lives or connection with ancestors.

• Soothing : it is said to have calming effects and is useful for overcoming old traumas.

• Protection : Sometimes used as a protection stone for travelers or those facing major changes.

⚠️ Common misconception

• Turritella agate is often thought to contain fossils of Turritella , a saltwater marine genus, when in fact they are freshwater fossils ( Elimia ), hence the taxonomic confusion.