Torridonian Sandstone Specimen in a Box Frame

Natural history doesn’t more real than this – a piece of Earth created during an era of dramatic change, with ice ages, continental break-up and the earliest signs of complex life. 

Inside the self-standing, black box frame is a single piece of one-billion-year-old Torridonian sandstone, measuring 5–8.5 centimetres at its largest point. If you’d like to see a much larger slice, then visit our gardens for free and explore the canyon-like Evolution Timeline wall.

This fine-to-medium-grained shard of rusty red coloured sandstone formed during the Neoproterozoic Era in what is now Kishorn in Wester Ross, Scotland and comes from a geology specimen chosen by one of our scientists. Each display piece is individually numbered and comes from a limited-edition collection of 25, making it a unique gift for those fascinated by rocks.