People

Trilobites and people

A fish, a wizard, butterflies and a 15,000-year-old amulet.

How this site works. Every fact is in our own words and linked to its source, beside it. Where good sources disagree, we show each version in a “Sources differ” box.

The first drawing

The first record of a trilobite is from Britain: in 1698 the Reverend Edward Lhwyd published a drawing of one found in Carmarthen. NHM

At the time it was mistaken for the skeleton of a fish. NHM

Almost 100 years later, the German naturalist Johann Walch officially named the group trilobites. NHM

Merlin’s butterflies

Around Carmarthen, trilobite tails were known as ‘petrified butterflies’ and linked with legends of Merlin. BGS

The NHM explains the ‘butterflies’ as Merlinia tails that broke away and look like wings. NHM

A trilobite from the area, Merlinia, is named after him. BGS

In Sweden and China, trilobite tails were called butterfly stones, and in China also bat stones. BGS

Worn as jewellery

At Arcy-sur-Cure in France, a 15,000-year-old settlement, archaeologists found a trilobite drilled to be worn as an amulet. UCMP Berkeley

By the mid-19th century people wore Dudley trilobites as jewellery. NHM

Fame

Among extinct animals, trilobites are probably second only to dinosaurs in fame. UCMP Berkeley

The museum’s trilobite expert Richard Fortey says there were trilobites as spiky as porcupines and as smooth as boiled eggs, bigger than lobsters and smaller than gnats. NHM

Next: trilobite myths, checked →