It's no surprise that ammonites, with their spiral shape, are symbols of change and positive motion. The spiral draws in negative energy, filtering it through the chambers and releasing fresh, positive energy.
Before we understood what they were, one of the explanations for ammonites was that they were coiled-up snakes that had been turned to stone, earning them the nickname 'snakestones'. But ammonites weren't reptiles: they were ocean-dwelling molluscs, specifically cephalopods.
The group Cephalopoda is divided into three subgroups: coleoids (including squids, octopuses and cuttlefishes), nautiloids (the nautiluses) and ammonites.
Ammonites were shelled cephalopods that died out about 66 million years ago. Fossils of them are found all around the world, sometimes in very large concentrations.
Many ammonoids probably lived in the open water of ancient seas, rather than at the sea bottom, because their fossils are often found in rocks laid down under conditions where no bottom-dwelling life is found.
The ammonites became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous, at roughly the same time as the dinosaurs disappeared. The majority of the very well preserved ammonites are found in the limestone and can be found inside limestone nodules or lying loose on the beach.
Ammonites were born with tiny shells and, as they grew, they built new chambers onto it. They would move their entire body into a new chamber and seal off their old and now too-small living quarters with walls known as septa.
Most of our ammonites we sell are from Madagascar!