Fossils older than Dinosaurs In 1956 workmen using a bulldozer to improve a bad bend on a country road between Canowindra & Gooloogong in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia, turned over a large slab of rock exposing numerous impressions of fossil fish on its underside. The slab was pushed aside to the fence line where it was later spotted by a local apiarist who, recognising its importance notified the Australian Museum in Sydney. On examination by museum experts the slab proved to be one of the most remarkable discoveries of its kind anywhere in the world. It was immediately recovered and removed to Sydney where it became the centrepiece attraction in the museum's Hall of Fossils. It bears evidence of a mass kill event that took place some 360 million years ago in late Devonian times - 'Age of Fishes'. Unfortunately, by the time the original slab was recovered, both the road surface and margins had been regraded and the actual horizon from which the fish slab came could not be pinpointed. For almost 40 years the remaining Canowindra fossils lay undiscovered until in 1992 Dr. Alex Ritchie, Palaeontologist at the Australian Museum, was invited to talk to the Canowindra Rotary Club on the 'Great Canowindra Fossil Kill'. This presentation fired the enthusiasm of a group ( later to become the Age of Fishes Museum Inc. ) who devised a plan to rediscover the fossil site. Above right: Photograph of specimens on the original slab including Canowindra Grossi ( Centre ) In January 1993 an investigatory dig was carried out in Canowindra. Led by Dr. Ritchie the group successfully identified the precise location of the Canowindra fossil site. Further, it confirmed that the site was both extensive and richly fossiliferous. The fish fauna, containing literally thousands of complete fish specimens, resulted from a unique combination of circumstances; a mass kill of an entire fish population, rapid, gentle burial and, good preservation of their skeletal remains. A major excavation of the site was then carried out in July 1993 again led by Dr. Ritchie. The results of this second dig were spectacular. The finds exceeded all expectations and have confirmed Canowindra as a world class site in the quality, quantity, and diversity of its fossil remains. More than 100 rock slabs were recovered, their undersurfaces crammed with over 3,000 fish specimens. These are at least seven long extinct fish present, Bothriolepis ( abundant ), Remigolepis ( abundant ), Groenlandaspis ( rare ) and four types of lobe-finned fish ( Canowindra Grossi and three other types new to science ). The specimens of Groenlandaspis, an armoured fish reconstructed by Dr. Ritchie from material collected in Antarctica in 1970-71 and since discovered, or identified, on five continents are the finest ever discovered. One slab contains five complete specimens almost uncrushed. Back to Age of Fishes The above extract was taken from 'The Canowindra Age of Fishes Museum' Information Pack.