Smithsonian Gallery World Wide Collection of Trilobite
The ROCK SHOP (House of Phacops, Alternate Universe) Is a rock shop and trilobite gallery. On a small 1 acre patch of land at the intersection of State Route 41 and State Route 73, just 3 miles from SERPENT MOUND State Park. It sits on the Southeastern edge of a 5 mile wide IMPACT CRATER and on top of A DEEP 17.5 km long FAULT that is miles deep thus EMITTING A CONSTANT FLOW OF POSITIVE ENERGY.
Since 1978 this small business has supplied fossil and mineral specimens worldwide. The shop features fossils, minerals, custom handmade jewelry, art, carvings, music and herbs. The centerpiece of the shop is a Trilobite Gallery created by the U.S. National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution.
The Trilobite Gallery was created in 1986 to display the Thomas T. Johnson Collection at the Smithsonian, and later moved to the House of Phacops. Many of the Trilobites in the gallery were loaned to the Smithsonian's "Life in the Ancient Seas" Gallery before being re-united with the House of Phacops Gallery in 1990. Some of the specimens have been viewed by over 200 million Smithsonian visitors.
Tom Johnson, owner of The House of Phacops, began researching the Isotelus Trilobite, Official State Fossil of Ohio, in 1985. The largest known example of the State fossil is on exhibit at his shop. Built on the foundation of a tannery that operated in Locust Grove around 1850, the building is clad with Ordovician flat rock quarried in Adams County. The Ordovician seabed, dating back 438 million years, attracted Johnson to Adams County because the ancient seabed contains the finest known examples of the Isotelus Trilobite.
Collected a lot around Sylvania, Ohio in an old 350 million year old sea bed 90 feet under ground through the 60's and 70's until the government stopped that activity with MSHA and OSHA 1979, He then moved to southern Ohio and began collecting an even older sea bed of 438 million. Many trips around the planet to collect and study fossils dating back to 2,7 billion years, recognized for his achievements in 1984 by the Smithsonian and National Geographic, he has written 3 books and lectured on the subject of trilobites.
Tom Johnson conducts workshops for universities in the serpent mound impact crater. He does private tours as well, cost is 100.00 and takes 2 hours. Groups up to 12 are welcome. There are 6 stops along the way and collecting is permitted. Many Universities use this service and I have taken hundreds of students and teachers into the crater over the years. We study the diverse geology, magnetics, faults, and minerals on the tour.
Tours of the Serpent Mound Impact Crater are offered for a small fee. Here is a portion of what you will get.
THOMAS JOHNSON THUNDER ROCK OF THE STARS ROSWELL NEW MEXICO CONNECTION
As a Young man Thomas Johnsonand His family would Travel from Detroit to Roswell New Mexico at least once a year Thomas Johnson's Uncle Art Brosius would take him and Aunt Eva to the Bottomless Lakes,Ruidoso Cloud Croft, White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, Leadville Colorado, Karnie Nebraska and many other places to fish or explore.
The late Arthur Brosius, a Provost Sergeant with the 340th Military Police Escort Corps, was involved in getting the base operational, starting September 5, 1942. A interviewed Mr. Brosius about 25 years ago. Probably the definitive source on the history of the New Mexico camps
Some 19 companies of guards were brought in to escort the prisoners in and out of camp. Brosius was at the camp the entire time it was in operation; he later was a WELL KNOWN SECURITY CHIEF at New Mexico Military Institute for many years.
And Yes during the Roswell crash.
Thomas Johnson Thunder Rock was later drafted and was Stationed at Fort Bliss El Paso, Air Defense Command as a fire control operator, they would do military exercises at McGregor range, White Sands as well as many places he went with uncle Art as a boy.
He then settled in Ohio.
One year in the 80's Thomas was contacted by the Reagan administration to work on Star Wars because of his knowledge on the Phacops
A trilobites ostensibly possessed a unique and highly advanced visual system. The eyes of vertebrates and human eyes have organic lenses using muscles to alter lens curvature and thus focal length. Though we have no knowledge of the soft-tissue components of the trilobite’s visual systems, we do know that the lenses of the eyes of living trilobites were unique, being comprised of inorganic calcite, or as Levi-Setti (1995) calls them, "Crystal Eyes". There is no other known occurrence of calcite eyes in the fossil record. This composition has also enabled the trilobite eyes to survive as exquisite fossils dating back to the earliest Cambrian. The earliest trilobite eyes were, like modern arthropods, compound eyes, comprised of repeating units, called ommatidia, each of which functioned as a separate visual receptor. If trilobite eyes were like modern arthropods, each ommatidium had a lens (the front surface of which makes up a single facet); a transparent crystalline cone; and light-sensitive visual cells. Each ommatidium was pointed at just a single area in space and contributed information only about that space. Typically, thousands of ommatidia in a compound eye are spread over most of a hemisphere, the composite of all responses of which is a mosaic image of dots, with more dots giving higher resolution of the image
Needless to say he did not answer their call
Recent work airs on the History Channel, Ancient Aliens segment on Serpent Mound and adjoining meteor crater
Thomas Johnson
One of the pictures is Thomas uncle Art
One of the pictures is Thomas uncle Art
(Sgt. Smith, left, and Sgt. Arthur M. Brosius standing in front of the orderly room, holding the flag of the 340th Military Police guard unit, which guarded Camp Roswell Prisoner of War Camp. Photo courtesy of Historical Society for Southeastern New Mexico, photo # 1101-B)
Open Every Day from 12:00 AM To 6:00 PM By The Corner of State Route 73 & State Route 41 29894 State Route 41 Peebles Ohio 45660 Just 3 Miles from the Great Serpent Mound Contact: Phone Thomas Johnson 937-205-3810 or Email rockshop09@hotmail.com Look for the sign across the street from the Locust Grove Dairy bar.
Articles:
Crater at Serpent Mound
Books:
Trilobites
Trailing the Trilobite
Discovering the Mysterious Trilobites
Television:
Ancient Aliens: Season 3, Ep 1
Discovering the Mysterious Trilobites by Thomas T. Johnson $15.00 + $5.00 Shipping email rockshop09@hotmail.com Text 937-205-3810
Serpent Mound Impact Crater Tour $15.00 + $5.00 Shipping email rockshop09@hotmail.com or text 937-205-3810