Photo: Screenshot from website

 
Fossils of ancient coral clusters have been discovered in Hechi City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. 

The fossils were spread out in an area of ground roughly 6 square meters in size and were found by accident by a group of villagers farming nearby. 

The discovered fossils vary in size and resemble a sheep's curling horns in shape. 

Fossil expert Fu Qiongyao at the Natural History Museum of Guangxi, said that judging by the villagers' photos, the discovery may be a coral cluster from the Paleozoic ocean dating back to 300 to 400 million years ago. 

Xue Yihui, a paleontology researcher, told the Global Times that these fossils were very likely ancient coral clusters as the species was common in the marine strata of Guangxi.

He also noted that according to the stratigraphic history of Guangxi, the 300 to 400 million year assumption is "reasonable." 

Though this is not the first time that fossils have been found in the province, Xue said that the new discovery still has value for research into ancient geographic environmental changes. 

Fu, the museum expert, explained that samples need to be brought in for further lab study.  

"There are many types of coral, and it is difficult to classify and identify them only by their appearance. By sampling them and examining their internal structure, thus we can determine its species." 

He suggested that the villagers should protect the site before experts get involved for further study.