The best preserved fossils from an ancient rain forest are found in Australia.
See the spectacular fossils from a newly discovered prehistoric rainforest
Some 16 miles outside of the town of Gulgong in southeastern Australia, landowner Nigel McGrath spent one day a few years ago working a particularly tough part of his fields. The patch of land was strewn with heavy, iron-rich rocks that menaced his farm equipment, so McGrath had to haul the loose blocks into piles by hand. That’s when he noticed them: immaculately preserved fossil leaves, tucked into the rocks like pressings in a book of stone.
Now scientists have confirmed that these ironstones—strewn over an area no bigger than half a football field—contain one of the most astonishing records ever found of life in an ancient rainforest.
Unveiled in the journal Science Advances, the site—known as McGraths Flat—is one of only a few places in the world that preserves rainforest ecosystems dating back to the Miocene epoch, a time period that lasted from 23.03 million to 5.33 million years ago. During this time period, the world saw massive ecological change, and Australia started transitioning from mostly rainforest—like the modern-day Amazon—to the shrubby, grassy drylands we see today.