A fossil is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, object
Ceratopsian skulls are common in the Dzungarian Gate mountain pass in Asia, an area once famous for gold mines and cold winds. This has been attributed to legends of both gryphons and the land of Hyperborea.
Fossil shells from the cretaceous era sea urchin, Micraster, were used in medieval times as both shepherd's crowns to protect houses, and as painted fairy loaves by bakers to bring luck to their bread-making.