Winter Flower was created from the field jacket of this Aspideretes soft shell turtle found in Sweetwater County, WY in the Green River Formation.  The Green River Formation represents a variety of landlocked lake sediments such as sandstones, mudstones, siltstones and shales deposited from surrounding mountain ranges during the Eocene epoch sometime between 56 and 34 million years ago.  During this time, the current Red Desert of central and southern Wyoming was much warmer.  In fact, during much of this time temperate forests were found at the earth’s polar regions.  This epoch represents the emergence of the first modern mammals. Reptiles, like this soft shell turtle, were also common.