Geology & Fossils
Alabama’s oldest fossils are found in the northern part of the state, where the tail end of the Appalachian Mountains is located. They mostly represent marine invertebrates that lived more than 230 million years ago during the Paleozoic Era.
The Age of Dinosaurs
But most of Alabama lies within the Gulf Coastal Plain. Here are found fossils of animals from the Cretaceous Period and several periods of the following Cenozoic Era (the Age of Mammals).
Ancient seas covered much of Alabama well into the Age of Mammals. Thus, dinosaur skeletons are rare. However, a few fossils have been found, including bones from Albertosaurus, perhaps the most formidable predator that ever roamed what is now Alabama.
The Age of Mammals
Most Alabama fossils represent the Cenozoic Era, which began after dinosaurs became extinct, about sixty-five million years ago. And because much of Alabama was underwater during much of the Cenozoic, these fossils mostly represent marine animals, including invertebrates, fishes and whales.
Cenozoic marine fossils are strewn about western and southern Alabama on the Coastal Plain. The older fossils are found in the north. Fossils tend to get younger as one travels south towards the coast.
The Ice Age
Fossils of animals that lived more than 10,000 years ago during the Pleistocene Epoch, or Ice Age, are also strewn about the state. Such fossils often consist of scattered bones and teeth and represent such animals as mastodons and horses.
Fossils in Our Lives
In a sense, Alabama has two official fossils. The second is marble, the state rock.
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - 
