For years, Adolf Seilacher – professor emeritus of paleontology at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Tübingen, Germany – has tracked down fossils around the world.

The paleontologist’s assistant, fossil preparator Hans Luginsland, uses WACKER silicone rubber compounds to make intricate molds from fossil impressions, sometimes on-site. Back in the lab, these molds (containing a negative impression of the fossil) can be used to make Plexiglas casts, which – once painted – are almost indistinguishable from their originals.

13 years ago, Prof. Seilacher and Hans Luginsland first presented the most dazzling of their findings to the world in an impressive exhibition that toured countries such as Germany, Japan and the USA.

In early March 2008, their finds went on show at “Fossil Art” in Warsaw, Poland. Some poetic license was used in naming the exhibits, covering a time span of over a billion years. The exhibition catalog contains the actual scientific descriptions.