The planet’s long history, captured chronologically with a bead necklace

Scottish artist Katie Paterson has created something a little bit special.

It’s a necklace.

Well, actually, it’s more than just a necklace. It’s a fossil necklace - and each bead is a genuine artifact from a significant point in our planet’s history.

The earthy relics have been taken from each of the major geological periods, and arranged chronologically they tell a long and impressive tale that traces the planets changes and catalogues our own evolution.

They record the time when the first vertebrates made it out of the seas and onto the land, the time dinosaurs mysteriously died out in Triassic-Jurrassic extinction event, the origin of primates, the origin of language and the first appearance of anatomically modern Homo sapiens.

Katie’s necklace has been made in collaboration with leading scientists and researchers from around the world, and its beauty really seems to lie in its ability to condense such complexity and immeasurable massiveness into something so simple, so beautiful and so easy to interact with.

We love it – and if you’d like a more detailed explanation of her chronologically beaded necklace, here’s a handy PDF guide for you to look at.

Unfortunately, here at The Bead Shop we don’t sell any fossilised beads. We wished we did, but we don’t.

Though in case you’re looking for those earthy, natural tones in your crafts and creations, we might have something you’ll like in our collection of semi-precious beads – so be sure to check it out!

Image credit: http://katiepaterson.org