What is the history of life on Earth? Why have so many species disappeared?
How can the Earth's past help us predict its future? Many answers lie in fossils.
The Hall of Early Life takes you from life's beginnings 3.5 billion years ago,
with its mounds of stromatolites, to the explosion of the first animals about
560 million years ago. These early animals, many unlike those known today, are
preserved in a few amazing fossil deposits. Australia's Ediacaran fossils record
strange animals such as Dickensonia. Canada's Burgess Shale deposit is
the century's most significant fossil find of early animals.
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| Earth 3.5 Billion Years Ago | Stromatolite | Ediacaran Diorama | Dickensonia | Burgess Shale Diorama |
