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Oldest verified amber found in Xinjiang coal seam dates to 385 million years
Researchers say the finding pushes back the previously confirmed amber record by about 65 million years, with results published in Science Advances on July 15.
Chinese scientists say they have identified the world’s oldest verified amber in the northwestern Xinjiang region, reporting that ancient plants were producing protective resin about 385 million years ago.
According to the study, the amber was discovered in coal seams in West Junggar, an area tied to ancient tectonic plate collision, and the team said the finding challenges earlier assumptions about how and when plant resins originated.
The work, led by Luo Cihang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, was published by Science Advances on July 15. The researchers said that before the trip to Xinjiang in 2019, they were initially skeptical of hundreds of microscopic pieces that appeared to be amber preserved in a coal seam dating to roughly 393 million to 383 million years ago.
The report also said the new amber dates push back the previous confirmed record, which was about 320 million years ago in the Late Carboniferous period, when the first herbivores also emerged, as described by SCMP Economy.