means "moss animal". The tiny tubes visible in this photo contained an individual animal. This is a very common fossil in east Tennessee since this area was covered by a shallow sea 400 million years ago.
Another Bryozoan fossil
Since limestone is made of the remains of ancient sea creatures, it is not unusual to find fossils like this cephalopod and spiral gastropod. This type of limestone is considered fossiliferous. It is hard to believe that the part of the country that is now Tennessee could have ever been underwater, but the rocks and fossils help tell a fascinating story of our ancient past. Limestone rocks at Cedars of Lebanon date back to the Ordovician period, 500 million years ago.
