One of the Oldest Known 3D Animal Fossils Found in Norway Sheep Field

Researchers led by the University of Cambridge have found one of the oldest known three-dimensional fossils of an animal in a sheep field in the Norwegian Arctic, the first major new site of its kind in Europe in decades. The fossil dates to 560 million years ago, during the Ediacaran Period, when complex life first appeared on Earth. The findings are reported in the journal Palaeontology.

The fossil belongs to Charnia, a frond-like creature with no mouth, organs or visible means of movement, described by the researchers as a goo-filled bag, like a sedentary jellyfish, though it is thought to be one of the earliest animals to exist. Most fossils from this period survive only as flat impressions, but this specimen, the first confirmed Charnia find in Scandinavia, is preserved in three-dimensional detail, which is rare for soft-bodied organisms of this age. The creature was swept up in an ancient underwater avalanche and quickly buried in the seabed, which filled its body with sediment while preserving its 3D shape.

The preservation revealed subtle ridges, called keels, running along each branch of the fossil, a feature not previously detected in flatter Charnia fossils. "When you see the same species preserved in a different way, you start noticing properties you hadn't seen before," said lead author Dr. Yorick Veenma of Cambridge's Department of Earth Sciences.

The fossil was found after rocks fell from a cliff in Finnmark, Norway, and split open to reveal the specimen inside, near an outcrop where anchoring structures made by Ediacaran organisms had been seen before, though no fossils of the organisms themselves had turned up there until now. Co-author Professor Neil Davies said Ediacaran fossils are scarce because the organisms were soft-bodied and skeletons had not yet evolved. Veenma said the find suggests early animals may have been more widely distributed than known, and that scientists should keep searching less familiar locations.