Arrowheads & Fossils

I've mentioned before my love of rocks. I have collected rocks over the years for their beauty, for their interest, and for their sentimental value.  I have tiny rocks from Mt. Etna when we travelled to Italy (sentimental value there). The rocks I find are usually beside water ... lakes or rivers or the Mediterranean Ocean ;) (I have a few from Croatia) ... so I'll dip them in the water to check their interest value and colours when the water brings them to life.

Occasionally, I find fossils in those rocks. Along the shores of Lake Ontario where I live, there are pieces of black shale that hold the fossils. We sometimes crack open these black rocks by tapping them on the edge and inside you can often find very delicate looking fossils. 

I've collected a few of these tiny treasures. 

The shale is very fragile, so once you crack the rock open, it sometimes crumbles into tiny pieces.

These are all fairly common fossils.

Still, they're kind of cool, don't you think?

My daughter bought me a couple of shadow box frames for Christmas. I didn't want these little rocks to crumble any further, so I decided to frame my fossils in one of the shadow boxes. Using Velcro dots, I stuck the fossils onto the backing board. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

Another set of rocks I wanted to frame are arrowheads!

 My mother's grandfather and father worked their small market farm in West Hamilton with horse and plow. Often they unearthed arrowheads made by the aboriginal people of that area. 

Apparently, one of my uncles had a shoebox full of these little pieces of history. My mother gave me a couple, and then I found a couple more when I cleaned out her house. 

I didn't want to keep them hidden away any longer, so I've placed these arrowheads in the other shadow box frame.

The arrowheads show up really well with the black backing board.

The fossils are a bit dark, but I still think these both make an interesting display.

I saw a heart-stopping display of arrowheads at the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto) in the wintertime. I don't know if it was a permanent exhibit or not, but hundreds of these types of arrowheads were all set up and labelled as to their age. Next time I'm there, I'll have to check it out again (and get a photo if possible).

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wendy