The Department of Mineral Resources has confirmed that ammonite fossils were used to decorate sidewalks at a famous shopping arcade, Siam Square.
Pongboon Pongtong, director-general of the department, said his geologists were assigned to verify a Facebook post that ammonite fossils were sidewalk decorations in the area.
The officials found 77 fossils with diameters ranging from 2 to 12 centimeters embedded in sidewalks for a distance of about 400 meters at Siam Square, he said.
The fossil decoration was the work of a contractor that Chulalongkorn University hired in 2020 and many sub-contractors supplied the fossils of various kinds. Mr Pongboon assumed that the fossils were sourced from many countries. Madagascar was a major source of such fossils, he said.
The fossils had not been locally discovered so the sidewalk decoration did not violate the Fossil Protection Act, Mr Pongboon said. (TNA)
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