No not beer. Lagerstätten, specifically
Konservat-Lagerstätten, is a term used to describe fossils
showing exceptional preservation usually including soft body
parts. You are probably familiar with a number of these
exceptional fossil deposits: Messel (Eocene), Solnhofen (Upper
Jurassic), Burgess Shale (lowest Cambrian), and as described in
this month's book, the Hunsrück Slate (Lower Devonian).
Cambridge University Press has issued Number 3 in the Cambridge
Paleobiology Series, The Fossils of the Hunsrück
Slate, Marine Life in the Devonian. The 1998 book
was written by Christopher Bartels of the German Mining Museum,
Derek E. G. Briggs of the Department of Geology, University of
Bristol, and the retired Günter Brassel. Fossils of
the Hunsrück Slate is updated and revised from the
original German work Fossilien im Hunsrückschiefer.
Documente des Meereslebens im Devon, 1990, by
Bartels and Brassel. This 309 page hardcover book is priced at
$68.00. You should be able to avoid the additional $4.00 shipping
charge by ordering it through one of the better local book
stores.
If you are unfamiliar with fossils from the Hunsrück Slate I'll
try a brief description. The slate itself is a black slate which
has been used for centuries as roofing slates. One of the oldest
known sites using these slates for roofing is a 259 AD Roman
dwelling near Koblenz. The most famous locality for exceptional
preservation is around the towns of Bundenbach and Gemünden near
the Rhine river in western Germany. Many of the fossils in this
region are partially preserved in pyrite. Pyritic preservation
and the use of x-rays has allowed for the discovery of soft body
part preservation.
The most commonly seen fossils from the Hunsrück Slate in
Museums and at fossil dealers are some of the more common(!)
crinoids and asteroids. The largest number of species known from
here are indeed echinoderms but sponges, corals, bryozoans,
conulariids, ctenophores (comb jellies), gastropods, bivalves,
nautiloids, ammonites, coleoids (squid), tentaculitoids,
brachiopods, annelids (worms), arthropods (including trilobites
and other very strange creatures), echinoderms (including
homalozoans, blastoids, cystoids, crinoids, edrioasteroids,
starfish, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, and urchins), vertebrates
(four early types of fish - agnathans, placoderms, acanthodians,
and sarcopterygerians), trace fossils, and plants. That's quite a
list.
Part I of Fossils of the Hunsrück Slate
covers history of the slate mining in chapter 1 along with the
collecting localities. This is another "don't pack your bags
yet" collecting area. The important sites are protected by
the German government and are active or abandoned underground
mines. It appears that you can't collect without a permit or
connection. The slate does outcrop at the surface but weathering
of the most important pyrite destroys the specimens. Chapter two
describes paleogeography, plate tectonics, and the sedimentary
environment. The last chapter in this section covers paleoecology
and preservation. The detailed explanation of pyrite formation
during fossilization is technical but well worth reading.
Part II is by far the largest portion of the book as it covers
all of the fossils known from the Hunsrück Slate. Plants are
dealt with in the eight page Chapter 4. Sponges through Bryozoans
covers the thirty pages of Chapter 5. Chapter 6 describes the
annelids and the arthropods in 47 pages. Echinoderms take up 71
pages. Vertebrates and trace fossils together only occupy 24
pages.
This long midsection is not presented as dry technical
descriptions of fossils. Information is included about the
animals and their life habits as well.
The final section, Part III, deals with collecting and
preparation techniques and techniques for modern analysis.
Preparation does require special techniques and skill to prevent
destruction of the fossils. Many of the fossils with soft part
preservation must be seen with x-radiographs.
Fossils of the Hunsrück Slate ends with
a list of known taxa from the area and a lengthy bibliography.
Perhaps unfortunately (or not) this is a book intended for
professionals and advanced amateurs. There is no glossary
included but technical terms do pop up. Other than these
technical words the remainder is written in easily understood
language. There is much that can be learned from Fossils
of the Hunsrück Slate even if you need to skip over
a few tough words. Fossils of the Hunsrück Slate
is full of outstanding black and white photographs and
x-radiographs. Line drawings are included for the reader where
needed to assist in interpreting the photographs. Sometimes these
drawings appear to be used to show reconstructions when the known
original fossils are fragmentary.
This is very readable account of this famous Lagerstätten and
well worth your time. To my knowledge it is the only such book
available on this very important site.