Paleontology is always under our feet

Backyards and service roads have changed, set stones replaced old asphalt and concrete, and the surrounding area has been effectively planned and landscaped. The interior of the building has been completely re-decorated - offering a more informative hall with statues placed on the stairs, light corridors with renovated and additional doors, a spacious exhibition hall, tiles placed throughout and nothing unnecessary in the corridors.

Nearly the whole life on the Earth can be read on the perfectly polished tiles of the corridor floor, where a paleontologist or a geologist sees the history of an ancient Jurassic sea written into the stone. You cannot walk here without being afraid of treading on a unique paleontological specimen. Nearly every tile on the floor (size 30x30 cm), and there are thousands of them, has more or less visible specimens of extinct sea organisms, mostly invertebrates. There are also problematic traces of sea plants (algae), which are hardly recognizable not only on tiles but also in fossil state on natural positions. I suppose that this geological material comes from one area of Poland, possibly from Morawica in Świętokrzyskie Mountains, and it is likely to come from the same geological age. Similar samples can be found in the area of Cracow. Such stones are usually called a marble, and it is easily polished. It may be said that it is a whole uniform fauna group. It is not only scientific information. After the renovation we received an additional didactic room with a permanent paleontological exhibition – wonderful corridors leading to paleontology or historical geology classes. The evidences of the biological history lasting for nearly 160 mln years will be part of our everyday life. They will be present in our didactic and organizational work – writes Professor Leonid Rekovetc.

Paleontology has always been under our feet; in quarries, drills in the Earth crust, and mines. And in the world famous position in Krasiejów near Opole, all the remains of reptiles and amphibians are located in the new architecture pavilion under a glass floor and you can observe each of them while walking above. We walk on the Earth and we do not know what kinds of treasures - not only paleontological ones – remain in its depths. Nor do we know how difficult it might be to reach them or to offer rational use for those historical gifts of nature. Paleontology – science connected with curiosities and permanent evolutionary issues. Many of them are still held in the tiles of the floor in our main building, as well as the natural positions of the Earth crust.

prof. Leonid Rekovets