One of the oldest known 3D animal fossils found in Norwegian sheep field
Researchers have discovered a rare 3D fossil of a 560-million-year-old animal known as Charnia in the Norwegian Arctic. This discovery provides new insights into the Ediacaran Period, as the fossil's three-dimensional preservation reveals structural details previously unseen in flatter specimens.
Why it matters
This find significantly advances our understanding of early animal evolution and the biological diversity of the Ediacaran Period.
edited by Gaby Clark , reviewed by Robert Egan
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Add as preferred source One of the oldest known 3D fossils of an animal has been discovered in a sheep field in the Norwegian Arctic, the first new major site of its kind anywhere in Europe in decades. Credit: Yorick Veenma One of the oldest known 3D fossils of an animal has been discovered in a sheep field in the Norwegian Arctic, the first new major site of its kind anywhere in Europe in decades.
The fossil dates from 560 million years ago, during the Ediacaran Period, when complex forms of life first appeared on Earth. The fossil, known as Charnia, looks more like a fern than anything we would recognize as an animal today.
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