China’s Jiangchuan Biota: 700 Fossils Rewrite the Timeline of Early Animal Life
The Jiangchuan Biota in southwest China comprises about 700 fossils dated to roughly 539–554 million years ago, revealing complex animals—including bilaterians and deuterostomes—existed in the Ediacaran period and suggesting such life predates the traditionally dated Cambrian Explosion, thereby bridging the Precambrian–Phanerozoic transition; the rarity of preservation at the site may explain why these organisms weren’t found earlier.