Humans’ closest invertebrate ancestors date back much further than thought – how we discovered the fossils that show this

Artist's impression of Earth's earliest complex animals during the late Ediacaran period – before the 'Cambrian explosion'. Xiaodong Wang, CC BY-SA

Animal life is extraordinarily diverse and complex, having colonised almost all environments on Earth – from hostile hydrothermal vents in the deep sea to the skies across our continents.

But the planet was not always teeming with complex animal life. For the first 3.7 billion years after it originated, life was small, simple and largely confined to the oceans. This microbe-dominated world was a tumultuous place, with several major swings in its climate.