Remains, impressions, and traces preserved in geological materials provide tangible evidence of past life. Follow fossilization, discovery, excavation, preparation, and interpretation as paleontologists reconstruct organisms and environments that no longer exist.
In 1984, paleontologist Hou Xianguang split a yellowish mudstone near Chengjiang in Yunnan Province and exposed a complete specimen of the soft-bodied arthropod Naraoia. The discovery signaled that the surrounding hills contained far more than ordinary shell fossils. They preserved an entire early...
A dark layer of shale high in the Canadian Rockies holds an unusually complete record of marine life from roughly 508 million years ago. Most fossil deposits from this age preserve shells, mineralized plates, or other hard structures. The Burgess Shale also records eyes, digestive tracts, gills,...