This jewelry series is built upon a collection of ammonite fossils collected by my maternal relatives. Ammonites are a species of aquatic shelled cephalopods which were prominent during the Jurassic period, 200 million years ago until their extinction in the Cretaceous period which began 66 million years ago. These fossil ammonites sat for 185 million years until they chipped off of the Jurassic Coast of England, to be plucked off the rocky beach by someone like my Aunt Nancy. Without being picked up by a human, they would get washed back into the sea and erode into the ocean’s anonymous mix of sediment. To find an ammonite on the shore is therefore an incredibly time sensitive and fortunate action, to upend a moment which would otherwise transform over a hundred million years of preservation into dust.

Ammonites can easily be reduced as a familiar seashell form, though they really hold a deeper history that's hard to contextualize. Being ancient traces of life, these specimens are incredibly humbling to me. As I hold an ammonite fossil I can look back in time 185 million years. To the ammonite fossil, my whole life is merely a brief instant. They are a reminder of our human mortality and the youth of our species. My evolving understanding of natural history has been significant to my worldview. I am not a spiritual person, but understanding science in this way is deeply shaking and makes me understand my place in the world, even if that means it’s profoundly small. Instead of a religious symbol, I opt to wear the ammonite. In this project I aim to preserve these ammonites as wearable pieces which serve as a reminder of the temporal and ancient state of the earth. My intention throughout this project has been to create forms which give ammonites, as well as their evolutionary implications, the attention and care they deserve. As jewelry, I hope the wearer can have onlookers ask them questions, and proceed to nerd out like I do.

Sterling silver, ammonite fossils, liver of sulfur patina, copper, enamel, 2024