Paleontologists in China say they have identified the oldest confirmed amber ever discovered, pushing the known history of fossilized resin much further back in time. The material is dated to roughly 385 million years ago, placing it in the Middle Devonian epoch.
If confirmed by further study, the find would surpass the previous oldest known amber by about 65 million years. That makes the discovery a notable shift in the fossil record, suggesting resin production and preservation were happening far earlier than scientists had documented before.
Amber is fossilized resin, and its age can make it especially important for understanding ancient life on land. A specimen from the Devonian period offers researchers a rare glimpse into a very early stage of terrestrial ecosystems, when plants and other forms of life were still evolving in ways that shaped later environments.
The discovery from China is likely to draw attention because it extends the timeline for confirmed amber by tens of millions of years. It also adds a significant data point to research on the development of early forests and the materials produced by ancient plants.
