The area around Radotín, Lochkov and Kosoř is a geologically very popular place, where we can learn about Silurian and Devonian rocks and collect a number of exceptional fossils. We will take bus no. 120 from Knížecí to the K Cikánce stop (at the sign) and from there we will head towards the cement factory for adventure.
Orthoceric slice
The name comes from the Latin name for the straight shells of fossilized cephalopods, so-called orthocerans, of which we can find an immense number here. In the Marble Quarry opposite on the slope, at the turn of the 19th and 20th century, orthoceric limestone blocks were mined and, after polishing, important buildings in Prague were clad with them. The nearby village of Lochkov even has a shell of a coiled Silurian cephalopod in its coat of arms.
Black Ravine
In the valley of the Shachet stream, towards Kosoř, there is the world-famous Černé Rokle. In the rock profile, we will see two important types of limestone: black Lochk and overlying gray Dvorecko-Prokop. In the rubble we will certainly find a number of fossils, especially bivalves, brachiopods, cephalopods and also some types of trilobites.
Production of paving stones
The black limestones, which also gave the locality its name, were hand-cleaved here until around the 1950s and used for the production of paving stones. We can find them not only throughout Prague, but also, for example, in Stará Boleslav, Třebon and many other places.
Joachim Barrande and the Czech language
Thanks to Joachim Barrand, many bivalve fossils from the Kosoř quarries bear Czech family names, and thus we know, for example, the genus Panenka or Kralovna. Although Joachim Barrande (1799 – 1883) was French, he liked the Czech language very much.
The Rockies and Postmaster Schubert
Rock miners - workers in quarries, during the production of split cubes they found many fossils. Some of them were obtained by Radotín postmaster Anton Schubert. He focused mainly on the remains of rare primitive vertebrates - armored fish. Today, the genera Radotina, Sudaspis and Tlamaspis are scientifically known.
Barrels near Kosora
Below the village of Kosoř lies a complex of now inactive quarries called "Sudy". They got their name thanks to the peculiarly – barrel-shaped – rock formations. In the limestone in the rubble, there are abundant remains of mainly trilobites.
