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Burgess Shale fossil site, one of the most diverse and best-preserved in the world, is discovered by Charles Doolittle W

Burgess Shale fossil site, one of the most diverse and best-preserved in the world, is discovered by Charles Doolittle Walcott in the Canadian Rocky Mountains (now British Columbia's Yoho National Park)

The fossils of the Burgess Shale, like the Burgess Shale itself, are fossils that formed around 505 million years ago in the mid-Cambrian period. They were discovered in Canada in 1886, and Charles Doolittle Walcott collected over 65,000 specimens in a series of field trips up to the alpine site from 1909 to 1924. After a period of neglect from the 1930s to the early 1960s, new excavations and re-examinations of Walcott's collection continue to reveal new species, and statistical analysis suggests that additional discoveries will continue for the foreseeable future.

Historical Significance

The fossils of the Burgess Shale, like the Burgess Shale itself, are fossils that formed around 505 million years ago in the mid-Cambrian period.

Events Before

  1. Henri Farman becomes the first person to fly an observed circuit of more than 1km, winning the Grand Prix d'Aviation

    Henri Farman becomes the first person to fly an observed circuit of more than 1km, winning the Grand Prix d'Aviation

  2. Katie Mulcahey is arrested for lighting a cigarette, violating the one-day-old "Sullivan Ordinance" banning women from s

    Katie Mulcahey is arrested for lighting a cigarette, violating the one-day-old "Sullivan Ordinance" banning women from smoking in public, and is fined $5. Appearing before the judge, she states, “I’ve got as much right to smoke as you have. I never heard of this new law, and I don’t want to hear abo

  3. Lieutenant General Robert Baden-Powell publishes "Scouting for Boys" as a manual for self-instruction in outdoor skills

    Lieutenant General Robert Baden-Powell publishes "Scouting for Boys" as a manual for self-instruction in outdoor skills and self-improvement. The book becomes the inspiration for the Scout Movement.

  4. King Carlos I of Portugal and his heir, Prince Luís Filipe, are assassinated by Republican sympathizers in Terreiro do P

    King Carlos I of Portugal and his heir, Prince Luís Filipe, are assassinated by Republican sympathizers in Terreiro do Paço, Lisbon

  5. Italian football club Inter Milan is founded as Football Club Internazionale

    Football Club Internazionale Milano, widely referred to as Internazionale or simply Inter, and commonly known as Inter Milan outside Italy, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan,…

Events After

  1. Author James Weldon Johnson (38) weds civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson (24) at her family's home

    Author James Weldon Johnson (38) weds civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson (24) at her family's home

  2. 13th Dalai Lama (Thupten Gyatso) flees Tibet for British India to escape Chinese troops

    The Dalai Lama (UK: , US: ; Tibetan: ཏཱ་ལའི་བླ་མ་, Wylie: Tā la'i bla ma [táːlɛː láma]) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.

  3. First seaplane takes off from water under its own power, piloted by Henri Fabre from the Étang de Berre lagoon in Martig

    First seaplane takes off from water under its own power, piloted by Henri Fabre from the Étang de Berre lagoon in Martigues, France

  4. First night air flight by Claude Grahame-White takes place in England

    The 1910 London to Manchester air race took place between two aviators, each of whom attempted to win a heavier-than-air powered flight challenge between London and Manchester.

  5. Film producer Samuel Goldwyn (27) weds first wife Blanche Lasky

    Film producer Samuel Goldwyn (27) weds first wife Blanche Lasky

More from the 1900s

First Powered Flight by the Wright Brothers

Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

science technology

Conference of 23 industrial trade unionists in Chicago, Illinois, issues the Industrial Union Manifesto, calling for a c

Conference of 23 industrial trade unionists in Chicago, Illinois, issues the Industrial Union Manifesto, calling for a convention in Chicago in June and laying the groundwork for the formation of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

death

James Longstreet dies

James Longstreet, Confederate confederate army general, known for confederate army general, died on 1904-01-02.

1st Rose Bowl, Tournament Park, Pasadena, California: Michigan defeats Stanford 49-0; MVP: Michigan fullback Neil Snow

1st Rose Bowl, Tournament Park, Pasadena, California: Michigan defeats Stanford 49-0; MVP: Michigan fullback Neil Snow

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on August 30, 1909?
The fossils of the Burgess Shale, like the Burgess Shale itself, are fossils that formed around 505 million years ago in the mid-Cambrian period. They were discovered in Canada in 1886, and Charles Doolittle Walcott collected over 65,000 specimens in a series of field trips up to the alpine site from 1909 to 1924. After a period of neglect from the 1930s to the early 1960s, new excavations and re-examinations of Walcott's collection continue to reveal new species, and statistical analysis suggests that additional discoveries will continue for the foreseeable future.
Why is Burgess Shale fossil site, one of the most diverse and best-preserved in the ... significant?
The fossils of the Burgess Shale, like the Burgess Shale itself, are fossils that formed around 505 million years ago in the mid-Cambrian period.

Explore More

August 30 in HistoryYear 1909