I'd always wondered that. Now I realise the answer was (literally) at my doorstep back in Delhi. Like most other mysterious and inexplicable objects, fossils too have been venerated in certain forms of Hinduism.
That's what a Shaligram Shila is. An Ammonite fossil. If it happens to be shaped like a phallus or conch or other yantra relating to Vishnu (one of the more ancient deities) then it has been preserved in a temple. A rather more scriptural discussion and website here:
A Saligrama – at least according to geological notion – is believed to be a flintified siliceous much-eroded ammonite shell – found only in the high Himalayan rivers and more especially in the river Gandaki, one of the tributes of the Ganges, which flows through Nepal. It is usually a rounded, well-polished stone, having at times one or several holes with visible spiral grooves inside of them, resembling the chakra. It is on account of this peculiar configuration, that a Saligrama is considered as the symbol of Vishnu.
In this South Indian temple of the turtle, there exists a fossilised giant tortoise. It is the only temple of its kind (or extant one anyway, the Meso-american ancients had their version of temples to the turtle).
Some examples of temple fossils:
CHATURATMA DASA's excellent collection
Many images here
Apparently you can join a pilgrimage to Nepal or the Himalayas organised for the purpose of finding Shaligram Silas. One excellent prospect being the Kali Gandaki river bed. Hmm. If only I had known...
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