Chengjiang

One of the highlighted Konservat-Lagerstätten in my Rise of Animals post is Chengjiang (a.k.a. the Maotianshan Shales). While Burgess has the historical significance, in terms of importance and potential, Chengjiang is arguably more important (see Shu, 2008).

The Rise of Animals

This talk will take us through the origin and initial diversifications of animal life.

It will be chronological, from the latest Neoproterozoic to the end of the Palaeozoic. Wikipedia has a timeline for you to orient yourself.

One theme that will be very prominent throughout is that of Konservat Lagerstätten, or sites of exceptional fossil preservation. Whereas 99% of the fossil record consists of bones, shells, teeth and other hard parts, these localities preserve soft parts, such as muscle and tissue. We will see just how important this is in general for palaeontology, but also in the study of this particular topic of the origin of animals.