Chengjiang biota
Biota de Chengjiang
- Date
- 1984 · confidence high
- Place
- Maotianshan, Chengjiang, Yunnan, China
- Credited to
- Hou Xianguang
- People
- 👤 Hou Xianguang1949–
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
A Lower Cambrian site (518 million years old) with exceptionally preserved soft-bodied fossils, including some of the earliest chordates such as Myllokunmingia. It documents the Cambrian explosion 10 million years earlier than Burgess.
A World Heritage Site since 2012.
What it led to
- study of the origin of the major animal groups
- discovery of primitive vertebrates