Miguasha Park

Miguasha National Park is considered to be the world's greatest palaeontological record of fossils from the Devonian Period, known as the 'Age of Fishes'. Five of the six main fossil fish groups from this period (dating from 370 million years) can be found here. A great quantity of some of the best-preserved fossil specimens of lobe-finned fish, ancestors to the tetrapods (believed to be the first four-legged air-breathing terrestrial vertebrates), were found here.

These coastal cliffs are made up of grey sedimentary rock (composed of alternating layers of sandstone and shale) which are 350-375 million years old. The area supports mainly birch, aspen and fir forests. Some of the fish, fauna and spore fossils found at Miguasha are rare and ancient species. For example, Spermasposita is thought to be one of the oldest flowering plant species on earth.

The fossil site was first discovered in 1842, by Abraham Gesner (1797–1864), a geologist and medical doctor, and a pioneer in the petroleum industry. To date, over 5,000 fossils from this one site have been identified and categorized.

Year	Decision	Comments
1999	Inscribed	Reasons for inscription
1994	Referred	Bureau - importance recognised but lacked context in which to judge comparatively. Centre to organise a study into sites covering Earth's evolutionary history

Reviews

Bo Haugaard Strandnes (Denmark):
I have found the Miguasha Park to be the 'motherlode'
of fossils from the Devonian perido. For many years I have
been finding fossils, especially Trilobites, at a site
in Jacquet River at a location called "Viking Camp"
just off exit 351 on Hwy.11
I plan to go back to both sites again this year, and
highly recommend them to fellow 'fossil aficionados',
and at the same time enjoy the hospitality and natural
sceneries New Brunswick has to offer.

Date posted: April 2006

Krista-Lee Christensen (Canada):
I visited the park with some friends this summer (2005) and found it to a fascinating experience. Not only does the area have magnificent scenery, but there are plenty of hotels and restaurants where you will be served great food with great hospitality. It would be surprising if you were to walk the length of the beach and *not* find a fossil. The park employees and tour guides are great resources for information and the museum is laid out in an organized manner. You will leave Miguasha knowing much more about the history of the beach, the process of fossilization, our evolutionary past and the preparation of fossils. On a scale from 1-10 I give Miguasha National Park a full 10.

Date posted: September 2005

Dennis W. Gordon (USA):
Very interesting! Never imagined seeing some many fossils for the sea like we saw there.

Kelly K. Henry (USA):
Miguasha is a remote park on southeastern edge of the Gaspe peninsula in Quebec but right on the border with New Brunswick. There is not much to see in the park but the museum is a visual pre-history lesson with lots of examples of the Devonian era fossils found at the site. Literally thousands of complete sea-life fossils have been found here and you can view the shale and sand cliffs where the fossils have been found but there is really not anything to see there. Most of the fossils are displayed in museums around the world but a few hundred are at the museum on-site. You must pay(C$8.00 in 2004) to visit the museum in order to make a visit to Miguasha worthwhile. Not many places to stay nearby. Drive about 30 km south for some small towns with motels.

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