The Devonian: Age of Fishes

• In search of our origins
  • Records of past life
    • The notion of geologic time
    • The history of the Devonian System
  • Witnesses to evolution
  • A lost world
    • Tectonic context
    • Paleogeography
    • Climate
    • A Devonian day
  • Life in crisis
    • The Late Devonian extinction event
• The plant world
  • The conquest of land
  • The first forests
  • The plants of Miguasha
    • Protobarinophyton
    • Archaeopteris
    • Spermasporites
    • Spores by the millions
• The animal world
  • Life in the sea
  • The diversification of fish
  • Toward the first tetrapods
  • The animals of Miguasha
    • A window through time
      • Representativity
      • Fossil quality
      • Specimens by the thousands
    • The food chain
      • Of predators and prey
      • Stomach contents
      • Coprolites
    • Invertebrates
      • The aquatic environment
      • Land-based communities
    • Vertebrates
      • Jawless fish
        • Anaspids
        • Osteostracans
      • Jawed fish
        • Placoderms
          • Antiarchs
          • Arthrodires
        • Acanthodians
        • Actinopterygians
        • Sarcopterygians
          • Actinistians
          • Porolepiforms
          • Dipnoi
          • Osteolepiforms
          • Elpistostegalians

A World Heritage Site

Paleontologists around the world recognize the Miguasha fossil site as a scientific treasure that should be preserved and protected.(72 kb) Fossils extracted from the site since its discovery in 1842 are renowned for their numbers and exceptional preservation. They have led to unique discoveries and a wealth of information, with the promise of much more to come. More than a century of research has sketched a remarkable portrait of this particular Devonian ecosystem and improved our understanding about the transition of aquatic vertebrates into terrestrial animals, indisputably one of the most important pages in the evolution of life on our planet.

(44 kb)In December of 1999, UNESCO recognized Miguasha’s uniqueness by adding it to the list of World Heritage Sites as the “most outstanding illustration of the Devonian Period”. In the same way the Ancients celebrated their Seven Wonders, the modern world highlights the significant cultural and natural value of sites by awarding them the World Heritage title. These sites include the Pyramids of Giza, the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu, Stonehenge in England, Colorado’s Grand Canyon, Canada’s Rocky Mountain Parks, and Alberta’s Dinosaur Provincial Park to name but a few.

(100 kb)Of the more than 830 cultural and natural sites recognized thus far, only fourteen are Canadian. The historical district of Vieux-Quebec and Miguasha are the only sites in Quebec to be included on this prestigious list.

Miguasha: A story written in stone

• The Gaspé Peninsula: A world of oceans and mountains
  • The birth of the Appalachians
  • The closing of an ocean
  • A sea of fossils
  • Faunal realms
  • Devonian lands in the Gaspé Peninsula
• The Miguasha Group
  • The Fleurant Formation
  • The Escuminac Formation
    • Geological characteristics
    • Localization systems
    • Biostratigraphy
    • An ancient estuary
    • An environment of exceptional preservation
• Of cliffs and men
  • The Seigniory of Shoolbred
  • A World Heritage Site
  • Miguasha fossils around the world
  • The geology craze of the 19th century
  • The first discoveries
  • Scientists come to Miguasha
  • Links to Scotland
  • Local fossil hunters
  • Erik Jarvik and the Prince of Miguasha
  • The birth of the Miguasha project
  • The 1991 International Symposium
• Le Parc national de Miguasha
  • Protecting a unique heritage
  • Fossil digs and research
  • The on-site museum

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A World Heritage Site
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© Miguasha National Park 2007

Title: Park road sign
Author: Parc national de Miguasha
Sources: Parc national de Miguasha
Year: 2002

Description:
Road sign at Parc national de Miguasha displaying one of the fossil emblems: Eusthenopteron foordi.

Title: The welcome area at the museum
Author: Parc national de Miguasha
Sources: Parc national de Miguasha
Year: 2003

Description:
The welcome area at the Natural History Museum. In the background are several rock monoliths from the Miguasha cliff and the official plaque commemorating the addition of the fossil site to UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Title: Commemorative plaque
Author: Parc national de Miguasha
Sources: Parc national de Miguasha
Year: 2000

Description:
The plaque commemorating the addition of the Parc national de Miguasha to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The message reads: “Miguasha Park is considered the world’s most representative site of the Devonian Period, called the ‘Age of Fishes.’ The site is of significance because it contains the greatest number and best-preserved fossil specimens of the lobe-finned fishes that gave rise to the tetrapods, the first terrestrial vertebrates.”

MIGUASHA PARK
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE

Miguasha Park was added in 1999 to the world heritage list of the UNESCO convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage. Inscription on this list confirms the exceptional universal value of a cultural or natural site which deserves protection for the benefit of all humanity.

Miguasha Park is considered the world’s most representative paleontological site of the devonian period, called the « Age of fishes. »The site is of significance because it contains the greatest number and best-preserved fossil specimens of the lobe-finned fishes that gave rise to the tetrapods, the first terrestrial vertebrates.