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Can Fossils be Viewing Stones?
A discussion of fossils as viewing stones
By Thomas S. Elias, November 2024
Fossils occur in many forms--bones, petrified wood, various shell types, exoskeletons, and a host of microfossils--that are easily recognized as elements of past life on Earth. Most fossils are collected and stored as museum specimens for study. However, some fossil forms have considerable aesthetic qualities and unusual shapes that can be suggestive or evocative. Despite this, some suseiki and stone appreciation clubs will not allow fossils in their exhibition of viewing stones. This paper will examine the evidence to support the display of certain fossils as Japanese-style suiseki or the broader concept of viewing stones.
Certain fossils are stones. Petrified wood is a good example. In most cases, the organic materials in ancient wood have been replaced with mineral-rich waters that fill the cells and pore spaces in wood and slowly replace cell walls with silica, quartz, chalcedony, calcium carbonate, and other minerals. It takes thousands of years and the right environmental conditions to turn wood into stone. In other cases, shells and exoskeletons become deposited in sediments that under time and pressure are transformed into different types of sedimentary rock. These shells and exoskeletons become a component of the rock. Casts and molds are a third process that produces fossils. Minerals, often calcium carbonate, are deposited on the surface of past living material such as a branch with leaves. Eventually, the original organic material decays and is lost; however, a very accurate cast of the living material is left behind.
Calcium carbonate cast of a branchlet with leaves taken from a river in a cave in Guangxi province, China.
Is there any precedence for including fossils in Asian stone appreciation practices? It is possible to document a long history of the use of fossils, especially in China, and less so in Japanese suiseki. The 12th-century Chinese book
Stone Catalogue of Cloudy Forest
lists petrified wood and coral among the 100+ rocks that were appreciated solely for their aesthetic qualities. The forty-eighth entry in this book is
Pines Transformed to Stones. Nine hundred years ago, scholars believed that petrified wood was formed when lightning struck a tree during a violent storm. There is good documentation that fossils were included in Chinese Viewing or Scholar’s Stones from the 12th century to the present. China has very rich deposits of macro fossils; therefore, it should not be surprising that some fossils were used in this manner.
Petrified wood displayed on a Chinese-style table stand.
Japan, too, has a documented history of the use of fossils as suiseki, although to a much lesser degree than in China. The Kyushu Moji Plum Flowers stones (Moji Baika-seki) are good examples. They consist of crinoid stems embedded in ancient dark marine limestone. These stones are found on the seaside near the city of Moji in the southern part of Kyushu. Two examples of Plum Flower Stones are included in the Japanese book Densho-seki (Historical Stones). There are a few modern examples of petrified wood and other fossil types used as suiseki. Japan does not have rich macrofossil deposits compared to China. As such, macrofossils displayed as Suiseki are rarely seen in exhibitions today.
Kyushu Moji Plum Flower stone, “Midnight Sky”
Another example of fossils used as suiseki in Japan is the Toki-shi stones from the Toki and Shonai Rivers in Gifu and Aichi prefectures. They are various colored, well-worn pieces of petrified wood that are collected and displayed by several stone clubs devoted solely to these stones. There are regular annual displays of Toko-ishi stones, and several books and serial publications just on these stones. Many collectors considered these as biseki or colorful or beautiful stones.
Japanese Fujieda near mountain stone, “Morning Sun on Rugged Peak”
Fossils appreciated for their aesthetic qualities and their ability to be suggestive and evocative can be considered viewing stones. However, this may represent only 2 or 3% of the found fossils. Most fossils are considered museum specimens to be studied as biological entities and their role in the evolution of life forms on Earth.
We should not exclude any group of rocks from being used as viewing stones or suiseki because of their origin, particularly fossils and meteorites. Instead, any type of stone should be considered provided it can be appreciated for its aesthetic qualities and is suggestive.
