The fossil record's oldest known calculus (an enterolith of the gastrointestinal tract), from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic), UK

Abstract

A calculus is a solid mineral concretion such as a kidney stone, bladder stone, gall stone or stomach stone that forms naturally in a body under certain dietary or environmental conditions. Calculi that form in the gastrointestinal tract are enteroliths and these are often near-spherical objects, sometimes with a hollow centre, with a concentrically layered structure composed of radiating crystals oriented perpendicular to the surface. They are known in the archaeological record but are almost entirely absent from the fossil record, most likely due to them simply not being recognised for what they are. We describe a fossil calculus from the Upper Kimmeridge Clay (Upper Jurassic, c., 150 million years old) marine deposit at Kimmeridge in Dorset, UK. This is the oldest calculus known from the fossil record with previous confirmed records from the terrestrial Oligocene of Colorado and the marine Upper Cretaceous Chalk of Germany: it extends the temporal range of known calculi in the fossil record by at least 59 million years. Although there are a wide range of potential hosts, the Kimmeridge calculus may have been produced by a large marine reptile.