Chengjiang Fossil Site

Chengjiang Fossil Site [Photo/IC]

Situated in Yunnan province, Chengjiang's fossils present the most complete record of an early Cambrian marine community with exceptionally preserved biota, and display the anatomy of hard and soft tissues in a very wide variety of organisms, invertebrate and vertebrate. 

The site documents at least sixteen phyla and a variety of enigmatic groups as well as about 196 species, presenting exceptional testimony to the rapid diversification of life on Earth 530 million years ago, when almost all of today's major animal groups emerged. 

It opens a palaeobiological window of great academic significance and was added to the World Natural Heritage List in 2012.