Original: The Ediacaran Period ( ; named after the Ediacara Hills of South Australia ) is the last geological period of the Neoproterozoic Era and of the Proterozoic Eon , immediately preceding the Cambrian Period , the first period of the Paleozoic Era and of the Phanerozoic Eon .
Simplified: The Ediacaran period ( about 635 -- 542 million years ago ) , was named after the Ediacara Hills of South Australia .