Among famous groups of extinct organisms, trilobites probably rank
second only to the
dinosaurs
in fame. Their fossils are instantly
recognizable and often strikingly beautiful. In fact, prehistoric people
liked them as much as we do. At Arcy-sur-Cure in France, a 15,000-year-
old human settlement, one of the artifacts found by
archeologists was a trilobite
that had been drilled to be worn as an amulet.
Although the last few trilobites went extinct about 245 million years ago,
they are one of the best-known and most-studied groups of fossil
arthropods.
Find out more about trilobites on these sites: