A fossil that lay hidden for millions of years in the hills of Ibiza has been carried down the mountain by firefighters, and will soon go on public display.
The ammonite, a prehistoric sea creature with a spiral shell, dates from the Cretaceous period. It measures more than 40 centimetres across and weighs around 40 kilos, and may be one of the largest ever found on the island.
Not just a shell
It was found this summer by Carlos, a hiker from Málaga who has lived in Ibiza for seven years and shares little-known corners of the island on his Instagram account, @ibizasinfiltro. He had strayed off a trail into an area he had never explored, and at first took the fossil for an ordinary shell.
When his post spread on social media, the Ibiza geologist Luis Tostón got in touch to explain its scientific value. Some followers told Carlos the piece could be worth a lot of money, and he went back to the site several times to check nobody had taken it. In the end he decided it should not end up in private hands, and agreed to donate it for study and preservation.
A mountain rescue
On Monday morning, after careful planning, members of the Ibiza Fire Brigade’s vertical rescue team, joined by trainee firefighters and Tostón himself, extracted the fossil and brought it down.
It will now be taken to the geology museum of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), where it will be put on show, with Carlos officially credited as its discoverer and donor. No date has been given for the move.
The exact location of the find has not been disclosed, to protect the site.
Source: Periódico de Ibiza y Formentera.
