Alumnus Tim Gette CEO of Museum Where Scientists Confirm Discovery of 500 Million-Year-Old Fossil

MARTINSVILLE, Va. –

Tim Gette, Class of 1968, is the Executive Director and CEO of the Virginia Museum Of Natural History, where scientists have confirmed that an approximately 500 million-year-old stromatolite was recently discovered at the Boxley Blue Ridge Quarry. These rare fossils are among the earliest evidence for living things.

The museum says fragments and sections of stromatolites are fairly common, but it is very rare for a whole stromatolite "head" to be collected intact.

The specimen is the first-ever intact stromatolite head found in Virginia, and is one of the largest complete "heads" in the world.