Someone mentioned old stones last week. All stones are old, I suppose, if you think about it. But the ones in my village seem to be particularly steeped in history. So I went to the church yesterday and took some photos.
The stones you see date from around 1013. It's limestone, carved from the quarries near the Seine, which in turn are the result of layer upon layer of ancient shellfish and sea-creatures which lived in the Parisian Basin in the The Lutetian Era, which is a stage of the Eocene Epoch. It spanned the time between 48.6 ± 0.2 Ma and 40.4 ± 0.2 Ma (million years ago). The Lutetian Epoch was named after Lutetia, Latin for Paris. There are fossilized shells in the stone, and I sometimes wonder what the stone cutters thought of that, as they cut and carved.
Looking out from the courtyard toward the village square.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
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11 comments:
Lovely shots.
I wuvs stone work.
Is there anything prettier than a stone arch?
Very pretty.
There's so much history in those old buildings.
It's always fascinating to see fossils in worked stone. It really gives a feeling of the continuity of life.
Very cool. I'm awed by the depth of history in all of Europe.
1013! Holy cow!
cool! thanks for the history, too.
So cool. Most everything around here is young. (Not counting a few natural landmarks.) Not fair. ;-)
These are beautiful. thanks for posting them.
I love your photos! Thank you :)
I'm with Clair- "Not fair!". :) But I'm glad you're posting the pix- most of us will never get to see this up close.
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