Gotland's Lithological Society was created in 2023 by the visual artist Tuula Närhinen for the Art of Heritage initiative, a project realised by the Baltic Art Center (BAC) in collaboration with the Gotland Museum. The GLS sets out to study the geological history and cultural traditions associated with the uses of limestone. Focusing on lithological matters and petrificata, the project explores cycles of sedimentation and erosion. The work draws from littoral processes - the elemental forces of nature that constantly layer, expose and erode sediments on the beach banks - as well as from the human cultural techniques in their futile attempt to preserve memories in limestone – only to end up with weathered church ruins, partly erased inscriptions and fragmentary fossil collections.

GOTLAND'S LITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

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The Oldest Known Fossil Collection

With the image on the right, Georges Didi-Huberman refers to the presumably oldest known sculpture of a fossil.

The stone with incisions is fashioned to look like a seashell. The sculpture dates from 15,000 BP.

Below the seashell sculpture, there is a

pre-historical curiosity cabinet!

It is a collection of strange looking stones put together by a human being who lived in the Lascaux cave during the Old Stone Age, i.e. roughly between 160,000 to 40,000 BP.

Cited from Didi-Huberman, Georges. La Ressemblance par contact: Archéologie, anachronisme et modernité de l'empreinte. Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 2008, 41.

The original image was first published in

Leroi-Gourhan, André. Le geste et la parole: Technique et langage. Paris: Michel, 1964, 212-213.

Leroi-Gourhan, André:

Le geste et la parole:

Technique et langage.

Paris: Michel, 1964, 212-213.