Fossil Seashells (Valva)

27 x 21 cm (10.5 x 8.5 inches).

This fascinating lithograph was made in 1850 by George Brettingham Sowerby and shows fossils from the Permian era. The Permian era was about 250-300 million years ago. It was first introduced in 1841 by geologist Sir Roderick Murchison, so these lithographs are some of the earliest illustrations of fossils identifed with the Permian. In the Permian era, the world was dominated by a single supercontinent named Pangaea, surrounded by a global ocean called Panthalassa. The Permian ended with the largest mass extinction in Earth.