18 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

The discovery of a 380-million-year-old heart sheds new light on our bodies’ evolution

Researchers from Curtin University have discovered the world’s oldest heart in a ‘beautifully preserved’ ancient jawed fish fossil 380 million years old.

The heart was discovered alongside a separate fossilized stomach, intestine, and liver, with the organs arranged in a manner similar to modern shark anatomy.

The new research, published today in Science, found that the position of the organs in the body of arthrodires – an extinct class of armored fishes that flourished through the Devonian period from 419.2 million years ago to 358.9 million years ago – is similar to modern shark anatomy, offering vital new evolutionary clues.

“Evolution is often thought of as a series of small steps, but these ancient fossils suggest there was a larger leap between jawless and jawed vertebrates,” said Professor Kate Trinajstic, lead researcher from Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences and the Western Australian Museum, in a statement.

“These fish literally have their hearts in their mouths and under their gills – just like sharks today.”

“For the first time, we can see all the organs together in a primitive jawed fish, and we were especially surprised to learn that they were not so different from us.”

“However, there was one critical difference – the liver was large and enabled the fish to remain buoyant, just like sharks today. Some of today’s bony fish such as lungfish and birchers have lungs that evolved from swim bladders but it was significant that we found no evidence of lungs in any of the extinct armored fishes we examined, which suggests that they evolved independently in the bony fishes at a later date.”

The specimen is not only remarkable in its age but also that it was preserved in its 3D form, something which the researchers didn’t become completely aware of until they were at the scanning stage.

Lead researcher John Curtin Distinguished Professor Kate Trinajstic, from Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences and the Western Australian Museum, said the discovery was remarkable given that soft tissues of ancient species were rarely preserved and it was even rarer to find 3D preservation.

“As a paleontologist who has studied fossils for more than 20 years, I was truly amazed to find a 3D and beautifully preserved heart in a 380-million-year-old ancestor,” Professor Trinajstic said.

“Evolution is often thought of as a series of small steps, but these ancient fossils suggest there was a larger leap between jawless and jawed vertebrates. These fish literally have their hearts in their mouths and under their gills – just like sharks today.”

This research presents – for the first time – the 3D model of a complex s-shaped heart in an arthrodire that is made up of two chambers with the smaller chamber sitting on top.

Professor Trinajstic said these features were advanced in such early vertebrates, offering a unique window into how the head and neck region began to change to accommodate jaws, a critical stage in the evolution of our own bodies.

The Gogo Formation, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia where the fossils were collected, was originally a large reef.

The 380-million-year-old heart belonged to a now-extinct armored fish. Photo: Curtin University

Enlisting the help of scientists at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation in Sydney and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France, researchers used neutron beams and synchrotron x-rays to scan the specimens, still embedded in the limestone concretions, and constructed three-dimensional images of the soft tissues inside them based on the different densities of minerals deposited by the bacteria and the surrounding rock matrix.

This new discovery of mineralized organs, in addition to previous finds of muscles and embryos, makes the Gogo arthrodires the most fully understood of all jawed stem vertebrates and clarifies an evolutionary transition on the line to living jawed vertebrates, which includes the mammals and humans.

Co-author Professor John Long, from Flinders University, said: “These new discoveries of soft organs in these ancient fishes are truly the stuff of palaeontologists’ dreams, for without doubt these fossils are the best preserved in the world for this age. They show the value of the Gogo fossils for understanding the big steps in our distant evolution. Gogo has given us world firsts, from the origins of sex to the oldest vertebrate heart, and is now one of the most significant fossil sites in the world. It’s time the site was seriously considered for world heritage status.”

Co-author Professor Per Ahlberg, from Uppsala University, said: “What’s really exceptional about the Gogo fishes is that their soft tissues are preserved in three dimensions. Most cases of soft-tissue preservation are found in flattened fossils, where the soft anatomy is little more than a stain on the rock. We are also very fortunate in that modern scanning techniques allow us to study these fragile soft tissues without destroying them. A couple of decades ago, the project would have been impossible.”

The Curtin-led research was a collaboration with Flinders University, the Western Australian Museum, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation’s nuclear reactor, Uppsala University, Monash University’s Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, and the South Australian Museum.

Curtin University

Journal reference:

Trinajstic, K., et al. (2022) Exceptional preservation of organs in Devonian placoderms from the Gogo lagerstätte. Science. doi.org/10.1126/science.abf3289.

Related Articles

Medieval Weapon Chest Found on Sunken Medieval Flagship Gribshunden

20 April 2024

20 April 2024

An extensive exploration of the wreck of the royal flagship Gribshunden has unearthed a trove of new findings: new insights...

Archaeologists have discovered a treasure trove of sixth-century coins in ancient Phanagoria in Russia

27 July 2021

27 July 2021

Archaeologists have discovered 80 coins known as Copper staters dating back to the sixth century at Phanagoria on the Black...

The colored skeletons of Çatalhöyük provide insight into the burial rituals of a fascinating society that lived 9000 years ago

18 March 2022

18 March 2022

New research provides new insights into how the inhabitants of the “oldest city in the world” in Çatalhöyük (Turkey) buried...

Researchers found evidence of the use of medicinal herbs in the Grotte des Pigeons Cave in Morocco dating back 15,000 years

5 November 2024

5 November 2024

Morocco’s National Institute of Archaeology and Heritage has announced an important discovery that will enhance our understanding of ancient healing...

2700-year-old Assyrian carvings found near Mashki Gate destroyed by Isis

20 October 2022

20 October 2022

The U.S. and Iraqi archaeologists have unearthed ancient rock carvings believed to be more than 2,700 years old in Iraq’s...

8000 years old fingerprint and ceramic production workshop found in İzmir Ulucak Mound

22 August 2022

22 August 2022

It was understood that the structure unearthed during the ongoing excavations in the 8850-year-old Ulucak Mound (Ulucak Höyük), the oldest...

Ancient Rome’s city borders were discovered in a rare stone

17 July 2021

17 July 2021

Archaeologists unearthed a rare stone outlining ancient Rome’s city borders during excavations for a new sewage system. The stone comes...

Ancient tomb discovered under parking lot greenery in Japan

16 September 2023

16 September 2023

Shrubbery intended to illuminate a corner of a nondescript parking lot in Japan’s Nara prefecture turned out to be hiding...

The Largest Ancient Floor Mosaic in Cappadocia and Central Anatolia Region Uncovered -600 square meters-

12 November 2023

12 November 2023

The structure with the largest floor mosaic in Cappadocia and Central Anatolia Region was unearthed during the excavations carried out...

Are the skeletons found in the restoration of the Bukoleon Palace the victims of the Crusader army massacre in Constantinople?

29 November 2021

29 November 2021

It is thought that the 7 skeletons messy found in the Bukoleon Palace excavations may be the victims of the...

Archaeologists have found a fort that the Romans built to protect their silver mines, complete with wooden spikes

23 February 2023

23 February 2023

Archaeologists have discovered wooden defenses surrounding an ancient Roman military base for the first time in Bad Ems, western Germany....

An Elite Nubian Woman’s Burial, Dating Back 4,000 Years, Reveals the Oldest Evidence of Tumpline Use

15 April 2025

15 April 2025

A recent study analyzing 30 ancient skeletons from the Abu Fatima cemetery in Nubia, Sudan, has revealed that women in...

Researchers Examine 4,000 Bricks to Solve the Secrets of an Ancient Roman Metropolis of Trier

12 April 2025

12 April 2025

Trier, once a significant economic and political center in the northern provinces of the Roman Empire, is set to be...

Fossils of sea creatures 35 million years old discovered in eastern Turkey

17 August 2021

17 August 2021

In Turkey’s eastern province of Mus, a team of researchers discovered fossils of sea creatures estimated to be 35 million...

4000-year-old Temple With A 2.30 Meters Central Monolith Discovered in Cyprus

9 July 2024

9 July 2024

An Italian archaeological mission, the Erimi Archaeological Project of the University of Siena, discovered a 4,000-year-old temple in Cyprus. This...