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Important fossil finds include the discovery of a mosasaur by Georges Cuvier, giant armadillos and sloths by Darwin, the dinosaur bird Archeopteryx, Burgess Shale fossils, and the Mistaken Point Assemblage. The 19th century saw a renaissance in fossil discoveries, with major dinosaur groups and plant fossils found. Recent finds concern the dawn of animal history, with the Burgess Shale and Mistaken Point revealing well-preserved ancient worlds.
There are hundreds or even thousands of very important fossil records, but some stand out as having forever changed the way we look at a large animal taxon or epoch in palentological history.
The fossil finds that stand out the most are 1) the discovery of a mosasaur (aquatic reptile) by Georges Cuvier in 1808, ushering in the paleontological “Age of Reptiles”, 2) discoveries of giant armadillos and giant sloths by Darwin in 1850, which helped him formulate his Origin of Species, 3) the discovery of the dinosaur bird Archeopteryx in 1861, which provided crucial support for that theory, 4) the resurgence of fossil hunting in the age Burgess shale cambriana in the 1970s and 1980s, which revealed the precursors of most modern animal phyla, and 5) understanding the importance of the Ediacaran Mistaken Point Assemblage in Newfoundland, which revealed well-preserved fossils of some of the first known multicellular animals.
While fossil finds have been happening since antiquity, it wasn’t until the careful work of Georges Cuvier in the 1790s that scientists accepted that the fossils represented ancient animals, many of which are now extinct. Until then the world had difficulty accepting extinction, for philosophical and theological reasons. The early 19th century was a renaissance in the fossil record, with all major dinosaur groups and many fossil fish, invertebrates, and plants found during this period. Adolph Brongniart excavated important plant fossils and divided the history of plant life into four eras: spore-based (lichens, mosses, ferns, etc.), conifers, cycads, and the modern era of flowering plants.
The most important historical fossil finds in recent times concern the dawn of animal history, from 520 million years ago and beyond, up to about 600 million years ago, when multicellular organisms appear for the first time. The most fascinating finds have emerged from the Burgess Shale in western Canada and Mistaken Point in eastern Canada. The Burgess Shale reveals a well-preserved ancient world of anthropods, molluscs, sponges and annelids, while Mistaken Point represents an even earlier era, where nearly all animals were stationary fronds and sac-shaped filter feeders and algal symbionts anchored to the sea floor . These were probably cnidarians, like modern-day sea feathers, or even more primitive offshoots of the animal kingdom.
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