An odd-shaped fossil was found in Zhenxiong county, in the Zhaotong municipal of southwestern China's Yunnan province on June 12. Local residents guessed it is a snake fossil or even a legendary dragon.
However, experts believe it is a piece of fossilized wood from the Permian period dating between 300 million years and 250 million year ago. The founding has an extremely important scientific value because other previously discovered oldest unearthed relics from the county only dated back several million years ago.
The fossil is embedded in a weathered rock; the exposed part is some 130 cm long and the cross-sectional diameter is around 17 cm. It has a smooth and hard surface, with evenly-arranged black scales on it.
"This fossil is not comprised of animal bones because animal flesh cannot become a fossil, it is definitely an age-old plant fossil", said Cheng Zhongyi, the director of the culture center in the county stating this based on his over 30 years of experience in the field of archaeology.
After joint analysis, they confirmed the fossil is a piece of Permian petrified wood between 300 million years and 250 million year ago.
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