A COLLECTION OF NATURALLY COLORED FOSSIL DUNG
Miocene-Oligocene
Wilkes Formation, Toledo, Lewis Co, Washington
Coprolite is the name coined by renowned paleontologist William Buckland for fossilized excrement but, in recent times, scholarship has been tending toward the theory that whilst these specimens are indeed fecal in origin, they are actually intestinal casts (cololite), possibly from a species of turtle. Judging by appearance alone, this is a most persuasive conclusion; each of these five superb specimens displays an incredibly life-like texture and of evocative bulbous form, and each is differently colored, in gray, woody brown, deep purple, deep red, and burnt umber, each approximately 4 1/2 inches long.