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1909 Smithsonian chief Walcott stumbles on black shale and changes what we know about early life
Science
Published on 3 May 2026
The clue was hiding in plain rock darkness
In 1909, Smithsonian secretary Charles Doolittle Walcott, riding through Canada’s Yoho National Park, discovered the Burgess Shale after encountering strange black shale. The find exposed extraordinarily preserved soft-bodied organisms, transforming understanding of the Cambrian period and early life’s evolution. Even today, the site remains a key fossil window for researchers studying how complex organisms first appeared.
- Walcott discovered the Burgess Shale in 1909 in Yoho National Park
- The rock revealed exceptionally preserved soft-bodied Cambrian organisms
- The discovery reshaped scientific views of early life and evolution
- Burgess Shale continues to fuel ongoing paleontology research
Read the full story at The Economic Times
This summarization was done by Beige for a story published on 
The Economic Times