Thailand discovered 66 million-year-old fossils mounted on… Bangkok sidewalks.

Fossils believed to be of chrysanthemums that lived 66 million years ago appeared on the sidewalk in Bangkok, Thailand – Photo: AFP

According to AFP news agency, Thai experts have confirmed that more than 70 seashells mounted on the footpath outside a shopping mall in Bangkok are fossils of sea creatures that lived more than 66 million years ago.

A keen-eyed shopper has discovered the snail-shaped fossil, about 12cm across, scattered along a 400m-long stretch of sidewalk of Bangkok’s Siam Square shopping mall.

Paleontologists from the Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment investigated and found a total of 77 ammonite fossils.

Daisies are a group of marine invertebrates in the subclass Ammonoidea of ​​the class cephalopods. These molluscs are more closely related to species such as octopuses, squid and cuttlefish, than to shellfish such as snails.

Preecha Saithong, director of the fossil protection department of Thailand’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, told AFP that the chrysalis is thought to have gone extinct 66 million years ago.

“These chrysalis fossils are real,” Saithong asserted, adding that the new fossils are not like those commonly found in Thailand.

Local media reported that the walkway at Siam Square was repaired two years ago. Shells may have been added to the concrete by subcontractors for decoration.

Fossilized ocean mollusks, which lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, are still sold as souvenirs in some popular tourist destinations such as Madagascar and Morocco.