We'll follow the timeline through the primordial soup as life coalesces and primitive algae and bacteria leave traces from earlier eras. It is believed to be related to modern, feather-shaped soft corals known as sea pens. One of only seven such fossils ever found worldwide, it is the only one on public view. The rare Eocambrian fossil was found by an amateur fossil hunter in the Carolina Slate Belt in the state's Piedmont region. Its discovery speaks to our planet's paleographic record still being pieced together with each new scientific discovery.
Paleontologists learn about climate change in prehistoric times by studying fossils and sediments.
Scientists have come to believe that the movement of Earth's tectonic plates caused continents to drift through various climate zones over geologic time. Now accepted as a scientific reality, tectonic movement was scoffed at until as recently as the 1960s. It's believed that some 300 million years ago, during the late Paleozoic era, the continents moved together to form one huge landmass known as Pangaea. This probably gave some animals global migratory range. Our journey continues as we approach Mesozoic North Carolina in the Triassic period, roughly 220 million years ago.