China Team Uncovers 385-Million-Year-Old Amber, Pushing Resin Record Back 65 Million Years
Updated
Updated · Futura · Jul 28
China Team Uncovers 385-Million-Year-Old Amber, Pushing Resin Record Back 65 Million Years
2 articles · Updated · Futura · Jul 28
Summary
241 microscopic amber fragments were extracted from black sediments in Xinjiang’s Hujiersite formation, giving China the oldest known amber yet identified at about 385 million years old.
UV light revealed hundreds of blue fluorescent specks while Cihang Luo’s team was actually collecting coal samples to reconstruct Devonian plant ecosystems, leading tests to confirm the material was fossilized resin.
The find suggests mid-Devonian plants—likely progymnosperms or tree-like lycophytes—were already producing resin, a trait researchers say could have protected tissues and helped early land plants spread.
That pushes the confirmed amber record roughly 65 million years earlier than the previous oldest, from about 320 million years ago, and offers a rare glimpse into the rise of the first forests on land.