Ammonites is the colloquial name for the members of Ammonoidea, a subclass of ancient cephalopods with shells resembling the curled horn of a ram that first appeared during the Devonian Period (lasted 419.2 million years ago – 358.9 million years ago) and flourished in the earth’s oceans until the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event wiped out their last species around 66 million years ago. Because ammonites were extremely widespread in oceans for over three hundred million years, their fossilized shells are extremely common in many areas all over the world.
Tens of millions of years later, in the much more recent past, the ancient Egyptians and Kushites worshipped the god Amun, whom they depicted as having either the head or sometimes just the horns of a ram. The Greeks and Romans later came to worship this god, calling him Ammon and identifying him with their god Zeus/Iupiter. They identified fossilized ammonite shells as resembling Ammon’s horns and consequently believed that they were a kind of sacred stone with the power to induce prophetic dreams. It is from the name Ammon that ammonites have received their modern common and scientific names. Read on to learn more about this fascinating ancient deity and his connection to prehistoric fossils!
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