the coiled, chambered fossil shell of an ammonoid.
Medieval Latin (cornū) Ammōn (is) (literally, horn of Ammon ) + -ītes -ite1; fossil so called from its resemblance to the horn of Jupiter Ammon (dictionary.com)
"It'll take Mort several minutes to arrive. A row dots would fill in the time nicely, but the reader will already be noticing the strange shape of the temple - curled like a great white ammonite at the end of the valley - and will probably want an explanation...
"Eons ago the Listeners had found that ice and chance had carved this one valley into the perfect acoustic opposite of an echo valley, and had built their multi-chambered temple in the exact position that the one comfy chair always occupies in the home of a rabid hi-fi fanatic. Complex baffles caught and amplified the sound that was funneled up the chilly valley, steering it ever inwards to the central chamber where, at any hour of the day or night, three monks always sat.
"Listening."
- Terry Pratchett, Mort
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