Estate Sale Find - Seabed or Hash Fossil ID & Age

[Synetrics]

I’m new here, but have always been fascinated with rocks and fossils. My daughter is too, so I’m looking to do this as a hobby with her..but I digress. I was recently at an estate sale and picked up what I thought at first was a concretion and took it home. My close up vision is failing me, so when I put this under a big magnifying glass, I was amazed by all the details in this little 3”x3” piece. What can you tell me about all these little creatures? Any idea how old it might be? I want to share all the details with my daughter, so by all means…explain, please and thank you!

[Misha]

Most of that looks like crinoid columnals, the individual parts that make up the "stem" of a crinoid, an animal closely related to starfishes.

I think I also see some Cryptolithus sp. trilobite bits and brachiopods which are filter feeding animals with two shells.

Ordovician in age

 

This might be from the Kope formation in Kentucky, the matrix and fauna seem similar, but I'm not 100% sure. @connorp may be able to say, he has more experience collecting in that area 

[connorp]

It is certainly consistent with the Kope Formation. The Kope is extensively exposed in the tristate area around Cincinnati.

[Synetrics]

Misha! Thank you for all the information…I’ve spent the better part of an hour going down the Ordovician rabbit hole. This info will be used in showing this to her class. 

[Mark Kmiecik]

42 minutes ago, Synetrics said:

I’ve spent the better part of an hour going down the Ordovician rabbit hole.

 

You may as well rent a room -- there's no coming back!  That's how we all got started.

[ClearLake]

Here is a website that can help you kill a few more hours learning about what I agree looks like a hash plate of Ordovician fossils from the Cincinnati area:

https://www.ordovicianatlas.org/atlas/