In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have unearthed what they believe to be the world’s oldest fossilized forest!
Towering along the scenic cliffs near Minehead, Somerset in Southwest England, these ancient wonders rewrite our understanding of early plant life.
Researchers from Cambridge and Cardiff Universities identified these fossils as the oldest ever found in Britain, and remarkably, the oldest known forest on Earth.
These ancient trees, nicknamed “calamophyton,” resembled modern palm trees but with a twist: they were much shorter, reaching only 2 to 4 meters tall.
The team found fossilized remnants of the entire ecosystem, including plants, debris, logs, and even root traces. This incredible find sheds light on how these early forests played a crucial role in shaping landscapes millions of years ago.
The fossilized trees offer a glimpse into a bygone era where they helped stabilize riverbanks and coastlines.
“When I first saw pictures of the tree trunks, I immediately knew what they were, based on 30 years of studying this type of tree worldwide,” said Dr. Christopher Berry in an interview. He is a seasoned expert on these types of trees from Cardiff University.
“It was amazing to see them so close to home. But the most revealing insight comes from seeing, for the first time, these trees in the positions where they grew,” he added.
Dr. Paul Kenrick, a renowned plant fossil expert, highlighted the importance of these fossils for understanding how plant communities functioned in the distant past.
The discovery also shatters previous records. This fossilized forest is estimated to be a staggering four million years older than the previous record holder found in New York!
Dating back to the Devonian Period (roughly 419 to 358 million years ago), these remnants lie within the Hangman Sandstone Formation along the Devon and Somerset coasts.
Interestingly, the Devonian Period is named after Devon itself, reflecting the abundance of marine rocks from this era found along its coastline.
Imagine a landscape vastly different from our modern world.
Back then, the area where this fossil forest thrived was a semi-arid plain, not part of England, but connected to swathes of present-day Germany and Belgium where similar fossils have been unearthed.
“This was a pretty weird forest – not like any forest you would see today,” explains Professor Neil Davies, the lead author of the study, from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences in an interview. “There wasn’t any undergrowth to speak of and grass hadn’t yet appeared, but there were lots of twigs dropped by these densely-packed trees, which had a big effect on the landscape.”
Dr. Kenrick adds that these ancient trees bear little resemblance to anything living today.
The closest living relative might be the Dicksonia antarctica, a type of tree fern native to Australasia but commonly grown as an ornamental plant in Britain.
This discovery offers a fascinating glimpse into a lost world, revealing a forest unlike any we know today.
