Roughly 130 million years ago, in what is now northeastern China, volcanoes repeatedly showered down fine-grained ash, capturing remarkable details of ancient animals and plants. The fossils have allowed scientists to reconstruct a vivid picture of the ecosystem and gain insights into how modern organisms evolved. Here, glimpse the creatures—some familiar, others entirely alien—that inhabited the region long ago.
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When feathered dinosaurs roamed the land, true birds soared through the Liaoning skies. Some were as big as albatrosses; others, such as this Confuciusornis, were more the size of pigeons. This fossil, dating to about 120 million years ago, reveals characteristics that make Confuciusornis a mix of primitive (more dinosaur-like) and advanced (modern bird-like) traits: Like dinosaurs and the oldest known bird, Archaeopteryx, it has three fingers that are not fused into a single element, but like modern birds, it has a toothless beak and a well-developed shoulder girdle to power flight.