In collaboration with David Leggett - Natural History Expert
Have you heard of Brown Bank, the land of fossils? It’s the location where many of the Pleistocene fossils in our Mammoth and Ice Age auction come from, including a very impressive and completely intact mammoth skeleton which was sold on Catawiki in 2016. Let’s journey back to the enigmatic Brown Bank during the Ice Age - a world of lumbering mammoths, of prehistoric elephants, wild horses and elk-type deer with enormous antlers. And of course, sabre-toothed tigers. Where is this location? And how are these fascinating fossils being found? Read on to find out.
The Mysterious Brown Bank
Brown Bank, a geological formation at the very bottom of the North Sea, essentially lies between England's Norfolk Coast and the Netherlands of today. Throughout the years, this enigmatic area has offered up a wide selection of fossil vertebrates, both mammal and marine: from shaggy muskox, buffalo and bear to the humble hyena and the woolly mammoth.
Finding Fossils
From the Middle Ages onwards, North Sea fishermen have been the ones to unearth many of the fossils found in Brown Bank. They use a beam-trawl technique which involves hauling a large, wide net each side of the fishing boat, with a wide and stiff beam to keep the net's shape as it is dragged along the seabed. Early 20th century boats had small engines and never succeeded in scraping more than a centimetre or two from the bottom. But with improved technologies, newer engines with more power can take up to 8 centimetres at a time - and many areas are scraped more than once each day.
Image Source: Greenpeace
Fossil Collections
Over the past 50 years, many thousands of fossils have been lifted from the North Sea, with most of the material stored in mainly private collections. However, the Netherlands' National Museum of Natural History in Leiden has a wide and representative collection of North Sea fossil material, and is in fact the world's largest museum collection of such. As one would expect, the trade in North Sea fossil material is strong, with much going to the USA and the Far East. The collections held by private owners provide a valuable source of material for sale. Mammoth tusk and teeth, particularly the large and heavy molars, remain very much in-demand.
Here at Catawiki we regularly have North Sea and other Pleistocene fossils available for sale at our weekly premium-grade Fossil auctions. Every two months we also hold a special Ice Age themed auction where the best material is on display. This includes 7 - 8-foot long tusks, enormous skulls and superb Mammoth molars in pristine condition, despite lying on the seabed for as much as a million years or more. The next Mammoth and Ice Age Auction begins on Friday, 22nd December and will run until Sunday 30th December.
Are you already a lucky owner of a North Sea or other type of fossil? Would you like to sell at auction? There’s no cost to submit your special objects for auction so why not give it a go today. Become a seller and show us your fossils!
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