The age of these remains is a little less than 400 million years. They are found in the north of the USA.

The fossilized remains of an ancient forest were discovered in the mountain quarry of the Catskill Range in New York, USA. This period lasted from about 420 to 358 million years ago and is one of the longest in the entire Paleozoic.

At this time, the first vertebrate organisms and primitive tree-like plants appeared on our planet. They were the forerunners of the Carboniferous period. It was at this time that enormous forests grew on the planet, which formed huge deposits of coal.

Scientists from Britain and the United States report in a scientific article published in the publication Current Biology that the roots of large plants were found among ancient fossilized fragments. William Stein and his co-authors believe that the first forests on the planet appeared several million years earlier than previously thought.

In the sandstone quarry, located in the state of New York, fossilized plants are regularly found since the 1960s. Some of them are still shrouded in mystery. Fossilized specimens became well visible only in recent years due to the gradual exposure of the wind and rain erosion.

Scientists have discovered among the fossils the roots of archeopteryxes - the early predecessors of modern bare-chested plants. Fern-shaped are not uncommon. One species of fossil plants is classified by paleobotanists as plauiform plants.

These plants belong to the earliest trees on our planet.Archeopteris are considered the most “advanced” early woody because they were able to adapt more quickly to a changing climate. It is archeopteris that are considered the ancestors of modern forests.

It is reliably known that archeopteris had leaves of a modern type. This means that such plants gave rise to all modern woody. Other plants - eospermatopteris did not have similar leaves and roots. Archeopteris grew long roots so that they could suck out water and mineral salts dissolved in it from the soil. It is this property of ancient plants that allowed them to quickly evolve.

Near the remains of an ancient forest, fossilized remains of an ancient fish of the Late Devonian were discovered. The presence of this find means that the territory of the modern Catskill Range was periodically flooded by the sea. Obviously, this happened as a result of movements of the earth's crust and earthquakes. Scientists believe that it was the presence of sedimentary rocks that allowed the rarest samples of ancient plants to be preserved in such good shape. The presence of water additionally preserved the fossilized remains.

This find of scientists will bring us closer to unraveling the secrets of ancient life on the planet. It is possible that the borders of some ancient periods will have to be reviewed.