Gotland is fascinating in many ways, not least due to its enormous wealth of fossils derived from the time when this part of the world was situated on more southerly latitudes near the Equator, and a tropical coral reef thrived in the area where the island is located today.

Sara Eliason, palaeontologist at the County Museum of Gotland, describes and explains the most ancient history of the island and the life of the organisms whose remains form its present-day limestone rock. Drawing on her many years of experience as a leader of “fossil rambles”, she presents a lucid description of the sea floor environment of that time – more than 400 million years ago, and of the places where fossils may now be found. Sunstones and catskulls are popular names for two common fossils found on the island.