
Let’s talk about Jet.
Not the band. Nor the mode of transport. Nor the Gladiator from the original series, but Whitby Jet – The jewellery item and enigmatic natural resource found only along the Yorkshire Coast and hinterland.
Despite its value and unique place in local heritage, publically, there is still lack of clarity as to the full story of Whitby Jet. Which is surprising for something which has been coveted, collected and carved for THOUSANDS of years.
What does Yorkshire lore say about that shiny black rocky stuff?
- It gave English language the term Jet Black,
- It gave Queen Victoria an appropriate mourning jewellery after Prince Albert’s piercing infection went bad*
- It gave Whitby the statistical anomaly that on any day of the year, when walking through town, you are no more than 13 metres away from someone who owns an album by The Cure.
- Although it’s jewelery’s darkest natural material, Whitby’s ‘Posh Coal’ is further shaded by Urban myth (see * point 2)
What science says, is that jet was once living wood that has since gone through a unique fossilisation process leading to a hydrocarbon rich, natural organic compound, with high potential for BLING. Its desirable chacteristics to artisans and wearers are its regular deep colour, chemical stability, highly polishable nature and its triboelectric ability allowing it to attract goths, wickens and tourist dollar, simply by walking nearby. These properties have made Whitby Jet in high demand as a gemstone and decorative item since the British Neolithic. A stroll through Whitby Museum shows the diversity of it’s applications, via the talented hands of local artisans across different eras.
If you’re around Yorkshire’s fossil scene, you‘ve almost certainly seen misinformation and misidentification of Jet. Perhaps it’s reflective of this enigmatic material that can be carved into all kinds of realities. Or perhaps there’s just a jet-lag of science awaiting an adjustment in the body clock of public conscience
Whether it’s the town’s jewellers, its museums or Wikipedia – the common story is that Jet is fossilized monkey puzzle wood. It’s a nice story, and links the ‘Living Fossil’ tree that’s found in Whitby’s gardens, with the posh coal that washes up on its beaches

The problem with this creation myth is that there’s no evidence that Monkey Puzzle Tree (the species Araucaria araucana to be precise) existed in Yorkshire 183 million years ago, when the rocks containing jet were laid down. The slightly awkward fact is that the first Monkey Puzzle tree grew on the British isles in 1795, when it was imported to Kew Gardens from it’s native Argentina.
Studies like this link have revealed pollen from the Yorkshire Middle Jurassic coming from the wider Family of plants Araucariaceae, namely Brachyphyllum mamillare. Let’s quickly unpack the science of this connection, with a journey back to high school biology
Here’s the full classification of Monkey Puzzle A araucana

In short explanation – the further you go up the pyramid, the further apart are the genetic relationships between life forms.
Araucaria araucana = Monkey Puzzle Tree
Brachyphyllum mamillare = Monkey Puzzle family-level relative (Araucariaceae), whos spores were found in Yorkshire Coast sediments 10 million years younger than those in which jet trees were buried.
That’s as close as link as science can find. Two species, with significant separation at family level, found on different continents. So can we say the jet trees were Monkey Puzzle like?
Strawberries are from the same family as roses. Would you describe a 10ft climbing rose bush as strawberry-like? Similarly, us Homo sapiens share many characteristics with our closest genus level relative Homo neanderthalis (If you see me with a geological hammer, you’ll understand). But there’s vastly different characteristics found within species of our Family, which includes the living chimps, gorillas and orangutan, plus 13 million years of ancestoral tail-less apes.
Saying that jet comes from trees that were Monkey Puzzle-like, is more science-like, than it is science. Unless you’re comfortable being described as Australopithecus-like.
It’s probably time that we reset our jet-lag and stop the perpetuation of an urban myth.
So if jet wasn’t Monkey Puzzle Wood – what kind of wood was it?
In short, there is usually no way to tell which type of tree created a specific piece of jet. The process of jetification usually destroys the anatomic details that could help identify plant genus within individual fossil specimens. Academics believe that Jet doesn’t come from one type of tree, but from the wood of different tree types that were alive 183 million years ago. It is the process of jetification that makes jet, not a unique single botanical source.

If you want to explore the backstory of jet via a time-travelling fossil safari along the Yorkshire Coast, have a look at all of the guided tours available at www.YorkshireCoast.rocks. The qualified, Neadethal-like guides will be on hand to help you find and identify monkey puzzle-unlike fossils.
Tours run year-round and have suitability for different age, fitness levels and objective. Localities of Whitby and Runswick Bay offer the best opportunity to find jet.
Private hire itineraries are also available, with limited availability.
If you want to learn more on Whitby Jet, there is great information via the Ebor Jetworks website. Proprietor Sarah Cadwell Steele is geologist, artisan jeweller, jet researcher and the world’s foremost researcher on Whitby Jet. When visiting Whitby, you can drop right in to her studio to see where science, heritage, folklore and artisanal jewellery making all crossover.
But remember, leave your jet-lag at the door.
Steve Cousins
Jan 2025