FOSSILS

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Most plant fossils in Central Appalachia occur in the shales that overlie the region's extensive coal beds from the Pennsylvanian Period (320 to 280 million years old). Our museum contains one of the largest fossil collections in Eastern Kentucky. Hundreds of plant fossils of various sizes are distributed throughout the museum,  the most common being calamites (giant horsetail) and stigmaria (roots of lycopod trees). The majority of our collection is on loan from our executive director, a former surveyor at a surface coal mine in West Virginia.