Ugly Rocks Can Contain Beautiful Treasures

From the outward appearance of certain ironstone or siderite nodules, they might seem to be ugly-looking dirty rocks, but they often hide beautiful treasures inside.

- PALEO JOE

Siderite or ironstone concretions from the area called Mazonia near Braidville, Illinois, often contain a rich diversity of plants...and animals. These plants and creatures once lived in the subtropical jungles, swamps, deltas, and forests in the Illinois Basin of Eastern Central Illinois.

The area around Mazonia is known as a Lagerstatte (in German), which loosely translated means “resting place.” To paleontologists and scientists, it is an area with spectacular preservation of the flora and fauna of an ecosystem.