According to BBC, Clark, who visits Northumberland annually with her husband Gerard to hunt for the island\u2019s famed \u201cCuddy\u2019s beads,\u201d took the fossil home and shared it on a Facebook fossil identification group. Thousands of likes and comments later, experts confirmed that she had uncovered a significant specimen: part of a crinoid, an ancient marine animal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crinoids, sometimes called \u201csea lilies,\u201d first appeared over 500 million years ago during the Cambrian period. They have a flexible stem anchored to the seabed, with branching arms at the top. The stem is made of small discs called ossicles, which, when connected, form a columnal \u2014 the part Christine discovered .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Jan Hennissen, senior paleontologist at the British Geological Survey (BGS), explained that the stem had split lengthwise and curved, giving it its \u201cmouth-like\u201d appearance. He added that it likely originated from the Alston Formation, a dark limestone approximately 350 million years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holy Island\u2019s fossils hold a rich history: centuries ago, locals believed the crinoid discs were \u201cCuddy\u2019s beads,\u201d created by St Cuthbert to impart spiritual blessings. While crinoid fossils are common along the Northumberland coast, complete specimens are rare, making Christine\u2019s find particularly remarkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though she has received offers to buy it, Clark plans to keep the fossil, enjoying the amusement it brings to visitors and fellow fossil enthusiasts alike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A fossil that appeared to be \u201csmiling\u201d has been discovered on Holy Island, Northumberland, England, delighting amateur fossil hunter Christine Clark. The 64-year-old spotted the unusual find during a Boxing Day walk, describing it as looking \u201clike someone\u2019s fake teeth\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000102905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000102904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000102905,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fos.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":3783,"height":2128,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fos.jpg","width":150,"height":84},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fos.jpg","width":300,"height":169},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fos.jpg","width":768,"height":432},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fos.jpg","width":1024,"height":576},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fos.jpg","width":3783,"height":2128}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000102904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000102906,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102904\/revisions\/2000102906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000102905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000102904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000102904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000102904"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000102904"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000102904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}