A six-year-old boy has found a fossil dating back millions of years in his garden after receiving a fossil-hunting kit for Christmas.
Siddak Singh Jhamat said he was excited to find the fossil in his garden in Walsall (in England's West Midlands) after digging for worms. His father, Vish Singh, was able to identify the horn coral through a fossil group he is a member of on Facebook, who could see by its markings that it is most likely a Rugosa coral, estimated to be between 251m to 488m years old.
“The period that they existed from was between 500m and 251m years ago, the Paleozoic era,” he said. “England at the time was part of Pangea, a landmass of continents. England was all underwater as well … that’s quite significant expanse of time.”
The family said that they do not live in an area known for its fossils, like the Jurassic Coast in the south of England, but that they do have a lot of natural clay in the garden where the fossils were found.
Vish Singh said: “Lots and lots of people have commented on how amazing it is to find something in the back garden. They say you can find fossils anywhere if you look carefully enough, but to find a significantly large piece like that is quite unique.”