Each month we present a short video showcasing an object from the Lapworth Museum collection.
Current Object of the Month
Mike Hermily, long-term volunteer at the Lapworth Museum of Geology, describes a 'Fathead' ammonite he has chosen for his Object of the Month.
Watch the video
Previous objects include the following
Ellen, receptionist at the Lapworth Museum of Geology, describes her choice of a Portland Screw snail shell fossil as Object of the Month.
Watch the video
Richard, Academic Keeper at the Lapworth Museum of Geology , describes his choice of a fantastic Jurassic dinosaur bone as Object of the Month
Watch the video
Derren, a PhD student in structural geology, describes his choice of one of Charles Lapworth's field notebooks as Object of the Month at the Lapworth Museum of Geology
Watch the video
Anna, Learning and Community Development Officer at the Lapworth Museum of Geology, describes the skull of a Smilodon, or sabre-toothed cat.
Watch the video
Lava bomb from the infamous 1886 Mount Tarawera eruption in New Zealand
Watch the video
Spectactular example of gypsum crystal from Manangatang, Australia
Watch the video
Late Carboniferous tetrapod footprints from Alverley in Shropshire
Watch the video
The mineral pyrite, more commonly named as Fool’s Gold.
Watch the video
A 40,000 year old mammoth tooth excavated from Upton Warren in Worcestershire in 1955 by Professor Shotton and his research assistant Russell Coope.
Watch the video
A thin flexible sheet of sandstone from a bed or cliff in Jhajjar, near Delhi, India. Formed from the decomposition of gneisses which contained feldspar grains.
Watch the video
A volcanic rock specimen from Mt Meru in Tanzania - possibly from the most recent eruption in 1910.
Watch the video
This fragment was part of the Allende meteorite, the largest carbonaceous chondrite ever found on Earth, the fireball of which was witnessed on February 8th 1969, falling over the Mexican state of Chihuahua at the speed of 10 miles per second..
Watch the video
A transcript of the speech given by the principal of the university, Sir Oliver Lodge, when the University of Birmingham awarded Marie Sklodowska Curie an Honorary Doctorate in 1913.
Watch the video
Location unknown
This mineral shows quartz with needle-like rutile embedded in it. Most rutilated quartz is formed by hydrothermal processes, and as the high temperatures cool and the pressure eases, rutile crystals become trapped inside the quartz crystals. Watch the video
Dudley, UK
This example of an osteostracan is of particular importance as articulated specimens (with this incredible bony headshield attached to the rest of the body) are extremely rare. Watch the video
Ector County, Texas, U.S.A.
This meteorite sample came from an impact which is estimated to have taken place around 60,000 years ago during the Pleistocene, near what is today Odessa in Texas. Watch the video
Morocco
This exceptionally preserved trilobite displays sharp pleural and pygidial spines. It was found in Anti Atlas in Morocco and is from the Lower Devonian period and therefore approximately 415-400 million years old. Watch the video
Designed by Professor Charles Lapworth and manufactured by Birmingham’s J.Parkes & Son in 1896, this remarkable microscope holds historic and scientific significance for the studies of biostratigraphy; the use of fossils for comparative aging of different rock sequences.
Watch the video
Bavaria, Germany
This exceptionally preserved fossil shrimp is fully articulated complete with appendages including legs and antennae, body parts which are not normally preserved.
Watch the video
A fossil discovered amongst the Lapworth Museum collections has been identified as the oldest known fossil pine cone. Until recently, little was known about the specimen which was found many years ago during an undergraduate geology fieldtrip to the Yorkshire Coast.
Watch the video
Fred Shotton (1906-1990) was born in Coventry and went on to become Professor and Head of the Geology Department at the University of Birmingham. This map shows the vital role he played during the Second World War as a senior military geologist.
Watch the video