DICKINSONIA FOSSIL - HISTORY
News: Dickinsonia
fossil found in Bhimbetka turns out to be decayed beehive
What's in the news?
● Fossils
of an extinct species of animal that scientists reported in a sensational
discovery from India’s Bhimbetka Rock Shelters in 2021 have been found to be a false alarm as it was found out to be a
decayed beehive.
Key takeaways:
● The
Bhimbetka Rock Shelters are famous for their cave paintings, some of which have
been dated to 8,000 B.C., while archaeological evidence at the site has
indicated human settlements up to 100 millennia ago. So, the Dickinsonia fossil
finding, even if it had been borne out, wouldn’t have been the most important
feature of the rock shelters.
Dickinsonia:
● Dickinsonia
is an extinct genus of basal animal
that lived during the late Ediacaran period in what is now Australia, Russia and
Ukraine.
● The
individual Dickinsonia typically resembles a bilaterally symmetrical ribbed
oval.
Bhimbetka Rock Shelters:
● The
Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site in central India that spans
the prehistoric Paleolithic and
Mesolithic periods, as well as the historic period.
● Bhimbetka
rock shelters, a series of natural rock
shelters in the foothills of the Vindhya Range, central India.
● They
are situated some 28 miles (45 km) south of Bhopal, in west-central Madhya Pradesh state.
● It
was designated a UNESCO World Heritage
Site inscription in 2003.