Confusing title. Fossilized life is what Opal is. When you have fossilization processes add different minerals in distinct, microscopically thin layers (because

Confusing title. Fossilized life is what Opal is. When you have fossilization processes add different minerals in distinct, microscopically thin layers (because the skin/shell/tissue is thin), the resulting fossil has brilliant colors in the visible light, just like a streak of oil on water or an insect's wing reflects and refracts sunlight. Opal mines are basically underground fossil hunts, and it's no coincidence that the major Opal producing sites are also in paleontological areas. What seems to have happened here is that an insect got trapped in amber, and then that amber got fossilized, which resulted in much more structure being visible than is normally the case.