The collection of the Museum of the History of the Resort City of Sochi is centered around exhibits that relate to the ancient geology, flora, and fauna of the Caucasian Riviera. They include ancient fossils and pseudomorphs which demonstrate petrified prehistoric creatures, such as ammonites.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, the territory of Sochi and the entire Krasnodar Krai were covered by the waters of the Tethys Ocean. As the waters of the Tethys gradually retreated, they formed seas, including the Black Sea, and contributed to the rise of the Caucasus Mountains. These events of the past led to a large number of marine fossils that can be found on the territory of the Caucasus: in the mountains, the river mouths, and on the seabed.

Ammonites were the oldest cephalopods and first appeared about 400 million years ago. They became extinct almost at the same time as the dinosaurs — at the end of the Cretaceous period. Mollusks came in various forms and sizes, ranging from one centimeter to two meters in diameter. During their existence, ammonites inhabited almost all the seas and oceans and could not be found in fresh water. Apart from the site in Sochi, the Krasnodar Krai has several other significant deposits of ammonite fossils, such as the mouth of the Belaya River and the village of Psebay in Mostovsky District. Adygea and the Stavropol Krai are also rich in fossils.

Ammonites were named after the ancient Egyptian god Ammon of Thebes due to the similarity of the shape of the mollusk with the deity’s twisted rams’ horns. The first scientific description of ammonites was given in the 18th century (by G. Buffon and G. Bruguier), but they were known as early as the era of Ancient Greece and Rome. Even Pliny the Elder in the 1st century AD called the fossils of these organisms Ammonis cornua (“horns of Ammon”) — in honor of the ancient Egyptian solar deity Amun.

The ammonite from the museum collection was donated by the artist of the Adler bread factory, L.A. Saburov, from his personal collection in 1971. The exhibit is quite large, measuring approximately 13 centimeters in size, and features a clearly visible relief of a monomorphic shell.