Fish fossils dating back approximately 385 million years have been found in some of the world’s rarest cobblestones.
Over the course of 4.5 billion years, our planet has been home to many species that have long since disappeared. For example, dinosaurs roamed the Earth hundreds of years ago, but were wiped out by an asteroid impact around 65 million years ago. But scientists have now managed to discover what came before them, writes the Daily Caller.
Everything about this study is interesting: the 385-million-year-old fossils discovered by scientists and where they were found. According to James Ryan, an employee of the National Trust for Scotland museum, all this time, fossils of ancient fish that lived before the dinosaurs were literally hiding under the feet of locals and tourists.
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Ryan says he noticed the fossils while walking near Inverness Town House in Scotland. The researcher says that fish fossils on the pavements of cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh are not that surprising. But the new find is quite surprising: First, the remains belong to ancient fish that lived on Earth around 385 million years ago, even before dinosaurs became our main predators; and second, the stone in which the fossils were found turned out to be very unusual.
The stone used to construct the pavement is known to have been quarried in the Scottish Highlands. Also known as Caithness paving stone, it is a stone formed over thousands of years by the accumulation of sediments at the bottom of a huge freshwater lake that stretches from the Moray coast in the north to Orkney and Shetland.
Interestingly, the stone used to make the paving stone where the fossils were found is considered one of the rarest paving stones in the world. According to Ryan, he also reported the discovery to a palaeontologist and Inverness Museum staff, all of whom said they were unaware of the presence of ancient fish remains in the paving stone.
By the way, these are not the only fish fossils that have surprised scientists. They had previously found a fossil that had puzzled researchers for 200 years; they had never been able to determine who the remains belonged to.
Previously Focus He wrote that scientists found fossils of a 50 million-year-old school of fish.
Source: Focus
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.