The Burgess Shale was discovered 109 years ago today by Charles Doolittle Wolcott.  The deposit dates to about 508 million years ago.  Currently located high in the mountains of British Columbia, Canada, in life, it was located near the equator.  It’s one of the most important fossil localities ever discovered, as it opened our eyes to the animals of the Cambrian Explosion.  The fine preservation of soft body parts in the Burgess Shale made this possible.  Since then, numerous other localities of similar animals have been found around the world and on other neighboring mountains.