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Ordinary road works in the Province of Drenthe. And what turns up?
A 430-million-year-old fossil of a coral. From the coast of Chile.
And then a fossil of an octopus. Even older. 475 million years old. Also from Chile.
Mr Huisman, you found the fossil. They are very old and special. How did you find them?
I drive along here every day, on the way to the Hunebed Centre.
And I knew they were working on the road. You can see the piles of earth.
So, you are always curious. So I stopped the car and I got out.
I saw some stones, went on a bit further, and all of a sudden I saw a couple of white stones.
I thought that looks like limestone. But it can't be. So I picked one up.
I licked it, because I usually do that. It was limestone.
I broke it in two. But there was nothing in it. So I continued looking. And I picked up petrified coral.
That's very special. later I found limestone containing a fragment of a shell of an extinct octopus.
Then you jump for joy.
But how can it get from Chile all the way here?
These stones have made an unlikely journey across the globe. You have to go far back in history.
Tectonic plates with the continents float like ice floes across the earth.
That goes very slowly, at a rate of around 4 centimetres a year.
In 430 million years, these fossils have travelled around 6000 kilometres. That goes very slowly, at a rate of around 4 centimetres a year.
In 430 million years, these fossils have travelled around 6000 kilometres.
To an area which is now Estonia and the Baltic sea.
And they came here with the ice relatively quickly?
They got left behind here as the ice receded.
Shall we see whether there are any more? So there are plenty of stones.
All those grey and white stones are limestone. There are so many it would be strange if we didn't find anything.
Here's one!
This is a favosites. That refers to the polygon-shaped cells. So this is another coral.
How old is it?
420 to 430 million years? This used to lie on the bed of a tropical sea, with the polyps.
These are completely unique finds in Drenthe. These fossils have never been found here before.
And are they worth anything?
Whatever any idiot is prepared to pay. It only has scientific value. There's no financial value, but it does give me a warm feeling inside.