Symbols of time.

When you hold a one-hundred million year old bone in your hand, you can feel its energy. Not in a crystal skulls and lay-lines sort of way, but in a physical, dusty recognition that you are holding a part of the body of an animal that lived and died on this planet an incomprehensibly long time ago. An animal that experienced the earth that we know, during a time that is impossible to fathom. 

The comings and goings of millions can feel like an abstract concept, but the lens of time (lots of time) changes how you interact with the land and sea around you. The granite peninsula that we live on, or the rounded stones that are worn by the waves and deposited on the shore – all formed underground, naturally in a process and place that is so far removed from how we interpret the world it could be another planet all together.

Studying and holding minerals and fossils allows you to connect to our planet’s past. Our lifetimes, or even the existence of our species are mere flashes of light compared to the time it takes to form crystal, rock or for an animal to die, be buried in mud and turn to stone.

Generally we humans miss the point of this. Our planet’s geology draws the lines of thousands of years of history, geographic boundaries, migration, fortunes, and storytelling. The elements that form beneath our feet are the basis for economic markets, and international diplomacy – their value and story, formed by nature, grit and gas, millions of years old and each lump completely unique, is disregarded and polished. We know what fossil fuels are, but we don’t reflect on the fact that the liquid we use to fuel our car is derived from plants and animals that however many million years ago grew and roamed the planet we called home. 

A precious stone’s value is influenced by its rarity, clarity, colour and cut. Billion year old diamonds are classed, and graded based on their refraction of light – but the value of a stone, at least to us, isn’t just how it looks. Formed over millions, possibly billions of years they connect us to our natural world. By holding one, wearing one, giving one, you are adding to the story of an object that has been around, and will be around forever. A natural form, which against all odds has ended up in a human hand. A symbol of connection and time.

Stones, fossils, minerals give us perspective. They show us that our lives are short, that we are part of a wider whole, and that the planet will keep on spinning long after our mortal lives. When you hold the fragile fossil of a fish and appreciate its intricate skeleton, frozen in stone for almost sixty-million years, it gives you a mirror to reflect on your own life. When you give a sapphire, you are giving a beautiful object, but beyond its physical beauty you are connecting billions of years of life, you are part of the story of a stone that was first written before the dinosaurs.

Words by George Nixon

Photography of Emily’s collection by Valentina Concordia