What are Pennsylvania’s state rock, state mineral, and state fossil?
Pennsylvania’s state fossil is a trilobite called Phacops rana. Trilobites are distant cousins of crabs and spiders. They lived in the sea during the Paleozoic Era, hundreds of millions of years ago. Trilobites had a segmented and elongated body, many legs, antennae, large compound eyes, and a hard exoskeleton. Phacops rana lived during the Devonian Period of the Paleozoic, between 417 and 354 million years ago. It was selected as the state fossil following the recommendation of school children who saw a resemblance to Darth Vader. Pennsylvania does not have a state rock or a state mineral. In 2002, a group of fifth-grade students took a proposal to the House of Representatives to have the mineral celestine named the state mineral. Celestin, which is strontium sulfate, was unknown until it was discovered in Pennsylvania by a group of German travelers in the 18th century. It has a beautiful sky-blue color that inspired its name. Perhaps it will be named the state mineral in the near fut
