A guided passage through the origins of Earth, the Jurassic landscapes of the Morrison Formation, and the remarkable materials that reach the atelier today.
Dust and rock orbiting the young Sun accumulated into our planet. Meteorites preserve material from this early Solar System story.
Early life
The oldest widely accepted evidence records microbial life on an Earth already shaped by oceans, crust and atmosphere.
Cambrian diversification
Marine animal life diversified dramatically, leaving a richer fossil record of shells, tracks and hard body parts.
The Morrison world
Rivers and seasonal floodplains stretched across western North America. Dinosaurs including Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus and Camarasaurus lived in this changing landscape.
End-Cretaceous extinction
A global catastrophe ended the age of non-avian dinosaurs, while birds and many other lineages survived.
The Quaternary
Repeated glacial cycles shaped landscapes inhabited by mammoths and other Ice Age animals.
The atelier
Ancient natural materials are documented, selected and transformed into contemporary objects in Western Australia.
Artistic reconstruction of a Morrison Formation ecosystem. Colours, behaviours and the arrangement of animals are interpretive.
Late Jurassic North America
The Morrison Formation
The Morrison Formation is a widespread sequence of Late Jurassic rocks across the western United States. Its mudstones, sandstones and limestones preserve evidence of rivers, floodplains, wetlands and dry intervals, together with one of the world’s best-known dinosaur faunas.
Some legally sourced fossil bone from private land can be cut and polished, revealing mineral-filled biological structure. The colours belong to the fossilisation history, not to the living animal.
Morrison rocks are exposed across a broad region of the western United States. This simplified diagram provides geographic context only. It does not show collecting locations or imply that every product comes from every highlighted state.
Not to scale. The highlighted area is an educational approximation, not a locality or land-ownership map.
From living bone to lapidary material
How dinosaur gem bone forms
Select each stage to follow the journey. Fossilisation varies between specimens; this is a simplified overview rather than a recipe that every fossil follows.
Educational reconstruction, not to scale.
01 Burial
Sediment covers the remains before weathering and decay destroy the bone’s structure.
02 Groundwater
Mineral-bearing water moves through pores, canals and fractures within the buried bone.
03 Permineralisation
Minerals precipitate in open spaces and can preserve a three-dimensional record of internal architecture.
04 Alteration
Original bone mineral may remain, recrystallise or be partly replaced as chemistry changes.
05 Exposure
Uplift and erosion eventually bring fossil-bearing rock closer to the surface.
06 Cutting and polish
Lawfully sourced lapidary material is cut to reveal mineral-filled structure, then documented and polished.
Representative Morrison dinosaurs
Animals of a Jurassic landscape
These animals are known from the Morrison Formation. They are presented as ecosystem context, not as identifications of individual gem-bone fragments.
Select any dinosaur to reveal more information.
PredatorAllosaurusExplore profile
A large theropod and one of the Morrison Formation’s best-known predators. Its skull carried ridges above the eyes and held recurved, serrated teeth.
Diet
Carnivore
Approximate length
Often 8–9 m
Person 1.7 mAllosaurus ~8 m
Armoured herbivoreStegosaurusExplore profile
A low-headed herbivore distinguished by two rows of back plates and a tail armed with paired spikes.
Diet
Herbivore
Approximate length
About 7–9 m
Person 1.7 mStegosaurus ~8 m
Long-necked herbivoreDiplodocusExplore profile
A slender sauropod with an exceptionally long neck and whip-like tail. Peg-shaped teeth were concentrated near the front of the jaws.
Diet
Herbivore
Approximate length
Often 24–26 m
Person 1.7 mDiplodocus ~25 m
Long-necked herbivoreApatosaurusExplore profile
A robust sauropod with a powerful neck and tail. Its heavy limb bones differ from the more slender Diplodocus.
Diet
Herbivore
Approximate length
Roughly 21–23 m
Person 1.7 mApatosaurus ~22 m
Long-necked herbivoreCamarasaurusExplore profile
One of the most commonly found Morrison sauropods, with a relatively short, box-like skull and spoon-shaped teeth.
Diet
Herbivore
Approximate length
About 15–18 m
Person 1.7 mCamarasaurus ~17 m
PredatorCeratosaurusExplore profile
A theropod recognised by a horn-like projection on its snout and small bony structures along the back.
Diet
Carnivore
Approximate length
About 5–7 m
Person 1.7 mCeratosaurus ~6 m
Small herbivoreDryosaurusExplore profile
A lightly built, two-legged herbivore with long hind limbs, suited to moving quickly through the floodplain landscape.
Diet
Herbivore
Approximate length
About 3–4 m
Person 1.7 mDryosaurus ~3.5 m
Giant herbivoreBrachiosaurusExplore profile
A rare, tall-fronted sauropod whose longer forelimbs and elevated shoulders created a distinctive body profile.
Australia’s dinosaur record is fragmentary but remarkable, preserving giant sauropods, predators, armoured dinosaurs and small animals adapted to high-latitude environments.
Broad discovery regions
Tracks, bones and ancient landscapes
The map identifies widely reported regional centres of Australian dinosaur research. It does not provide exact fossil coordinates or permission to collect. Fossil protection and ownership requirements vary between jurisdictions.
Select any dinosaur to reveal its profile. Reconstructions are artistic and become more speculative where remains are incomplete.
Theropod predatorAustralovenatorExplore profile
A lightly built meat-eating dinosaur known from the Winton Formation of Queensland.
Labelled artistic reconstruction of a Late Cretaceous marine ecosystem. Colour, behaviour and the arrangement of animals are interpretive.
Fossil teeth & ancient oceans
Predators preserved in stone
Fossil teeth provide a remarkably direct connection to animals that hunted in ancient seas—from mosasaurs of the Cretaceous Period to sharks whose history reaches far deeper into geological time.
This educational section introduces the principal groups represented in the Deep Time Atelier collection. Individual specimens will be added later, with exact-item photography and all available identification, age, locality, condition and treatment information.
Long before whales became the dominant large animals of the oceans, mosasaurs were among the most formidable marine predators. They were fully aquatic reptiles that lived during the Late Cretaceous Period and belonged to the same broad reptile group as modern snakes and lizards.
Many mosasaurs possessed strong, curved teeth suited to seizing fish, squid and other marine prey. Other specialised forms developed broader teeth capable of crushing hard-shelled animals.
Mosasaurs were not dinosaurs. They lived alongside dinosaurs, but belonged to a different branch of the reptile family tree.
Otodus megalodon was an enormous extinct shark known principally from its robust, serrated teeth and fossilised vertebrae. Its teeth occur in marine deposits of Miocene and Pliocene age in many parts of the world.
Size, colour and preservation vary with the tooth’s position in the jaw and the minerals present in the sediment where it fossilised. A large tooth is not automatically a better specimen; completeness, enamel, serrations, root preservation, locality and restoration are also important.
Sharks continually produce and shed teeth throughout their lives. Under suitable conditions, lost teeth can be buried in sediment and mineralised, leaving an abundant but highly varied fossil record.
Tooth shape reflects feeding strategy. Slender teeth may grip fish, broad serrated teeth can cut larger prey, and flatter forms may crush shells. Listings will use the most precise identification supported by the specimen and its provenance.
Artistic reconstruction of Otodus megalodon. No complete skeleton is known, so its precise proportions and appearance remain subjects of scientific research.
Miocene to Pliocene oceans
Otodus megalodon
Megalodon was one of the largest predatory sharks known from the fossil record. It lived from approximately 23 million to 3.6 million years ago, long after the non-avian dinosaurs and mosasaurs had disappeared.
Its broad triangular teeth carried fine serrations for cutting flesh. Evidence from fossilised marine-mammal bones—including bite marks and embedded tooth fragments—shows that whales formed part of its diet, alongside large fish and other sharks.
Scientific name
Otodus megalodon
Geological range
Early Miocene to Pliocene
Fossils most often found
Teeth; vertebrae are much rarer
Tooth size
The largest known examples approach 18 cm
An illustrative size comparison, not a claim that every megalodon reached 18 m. Estimates vary because no complete skeleton is known.
Specimens coming soon
Fossil Teeth collection
Mosasaur, megalodon and other fossil teeth will be added after each specimen has been photographed, measured and documented.
Mineralised bone preserving biological architecture from deep geological time.
02
Meteorites
Extraterrestrial material carrying evidence of the early Solar System.
03
Opal
Hydrated silica whose microscopic structure can diffract light into spectral colour.
04
Amber
Fossilised plant resin preserving chemistry and occasional traces of ancient ecosystems.
05
Fossils
Physical remains or traces of past life, interpreted through anatomy and geological context.
06
Minerals and gems
Natural crystals and rocks selected for structure, colour, locality and geological story.
Collector glossary
Useful words, plainly explained
Agatized
A lapidary term generally used when silica-rich minerals, often chalcedony or related materials, contribute to a hard, polishable fossil.
Matrix
The natural rock or sediment surrounding or attached to a fossil or mineral specimen.
Permineralised
Minerals have filled pores and cavities within buried biological material while preserving aspects of its structure.
Provenance
The documented history of an object, including known origin, ownership, collection and preparation information.
Stabilised
A consolidant or resin has been introduced to strengthen porous or fractured material. Properly disclosed stabilisation is a preservation treatment, not automatically a defect.
Exact-item photography
The photographs show the individual object that will be supplied, rather than a representative example.
Educational content is reviewed against authoritative sources but is not a scientific identification or legal opinion for an individual specimen.
Authenticity & provenance
Wonder without invention.
Known origin, age, preparation and treatment information is recorded wherever it is available. Unknowns remain clearly marked as unknown. Exact quarry coordinates may be withheld to protect sites and landowners, but exciting claims never replace evidence.
Commercial vertebrate fossil material is accepted only when represented as lawfully sourced from private land with permission. Scientifically significant material deserves specialist attention rather than reduction to decorative stock.
