The Age of Mammals Most Alabama fossils represent the Cenozoic Era, which began after dinosaurs became extinct, about sixty-five million years ago. And because much of Alabama was underwater during much of the Cenozoic, these fossils mostly represent marine animals. The most famous is Basilosaurus cetoides , a prehistoric whale adopted as Alabama's state fossil. Cenozoic marine fossils are strewn about western and southern Alabama on the Coastal Plain. The older fossils are found in the north.
Fossils tend to get younger as one travels south towards the coast.
The Ice Age Fossils of animals that lived more than 10,000 years ago during the Pleistocene Epoch, or Ice Age, are also strewn about the state. Such fossils often consist of scattered bones and teeth and represent such animals as mastodons and horses. In a sense, Alabama has two official fossils. The second is marble, the state rock. Learn more about this enormous fossil at Prehistoric Topics .