The Maotianshan Shales (帽天山页岩) are a series of Early Cambrian sedimentary deposits in the Chiungchussu Formation, famous for their Konservat Lagerstätten, deposits known for the exceptional preservation of fossilized organisms or traces. The Maotianshan Shales form one of some forty Cambrian fossil locations worldwide exhibiting exquisite preservation of rarely preserved, non-mineralized soft tissue, comparable to the fossils of the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada. They take their name from Maotianshan Hill in Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province, China.
Outcrop of the Maotianshan Shale, site of the discovery of the Chengjiang Biota
Maotianshania cylindrica, a fossil nematomorph worm, Early Cambrian, Chengjiang Maotianshan Shales
Haikouella lanceolata, Maotianshan Shales, Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province
Heliomedusa orienta
The Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma to the beginning of the Ordovician Period 485.4 Ma.
Archeocyathids from the Poleta formation in the Death Valley area
Stromatolites of the Pika Formation (Middle Cambrian) near Helen Lake, Banff National Park, Canada
Trilobites, like these Elrathia kingii were very common arthropods during this time
Pikaia was a stem-chordate from the Middle Cambrian
