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LI HAO

At the Beijing campus of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, a huge warehouse preserves many unprepared fossils excavated from around China. Though worn and torn by time, these rocks hold the keys to unlock many mysteries of ancient life.

Flanked by microscopes, a scientist carefully blows dust and other debris off of one of the fish fossils. Small though these remains may be, the Chinese team studying the fossils have gleaned a great deal of information from them through statistical analyses, high-powered microscopes, precision X-ray scans, and 3D modeling.

This team of scientists and modelers created the life reconstructions of the ancient creatures seen above. Thanks to their work, fish that died hundreds of millions years ago reappear before us as if alive.

A scientist is shown holding one of the fossils found in Chongqing in his hands. Most fish fossils sealed in siltstone still preserve their living posture with the back on top and the abdomen at bottom. Some fish bodies are twisted as if still in a final struggle.