24/07/2026
This material is famous for its "orthoceras and ammonites", often called orthoceras marble or fossil marble. It has been mined in Morocco for potentially centuries, but only became very popular in the 80s and 90s. Despite being around for so long, the facts around it are often wrong. This material is actually limestone, not marble. Even stranger, it contains no orthoceras at all.... That may seem crazy, as clearly there are millions of these long shell creatures embedded in this rock. But actually, these creatures are called Temperoceras, not Orthoceras. Also worth mentioning, some are Michelinoceras. These creatures dominated the ancient oceans of the Devonian and Silurian periods roughly 400 to 450 million years ago. In comparison, orthoceras have previously only been identified in Northern Europe. Due to striking resemblance, and the problem that truly identifying the difference is mostly done using microscopes, the Orthoceras name has stuck. All 3 characterized by long slender shells, their soft bodies would have been similar enough to a modern day squid (purely as an example). It is generally believed these creatures would use their shells and body for both buoyancy and movement, forcing water like a jet straight through their shells. Typically it is mined and cut in Erfoud. The industry went from small scale souvenirs to modern day multimillion scale, employing thousands and being shipped to every corner of the world. So, most accurately, this is Cephalopod Limestone (when it is mixed) or Temperoceras limestone. Not forgetting also the Goniatites present, but these are present less than 25% of the time.
