The newspaper noted that the discovery documents a remarkably well-preserved site, and studies place it a few million years after the mass extinction that wiped out much of life on Earth at the end of the Cretaceous period.

The discovery, published in the Science Advances journal, contains hundreds of well-preserved marine fish fossils, including more than 20 previously unknown species.

The newspaper noted that this makes it one of the richest early Paleocene fossil sites identified worldwide.

It underscored that, unlike other sites of its kind that typically reflect shallow marine environments, this one represents an open ocean ecosystem.

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