Dinosaurs unearthed in China may have ended with a collapse, not a catastrophe

In no way does this diminish these fantastic fossils, says Olsen. In fact, for me, it makes them even more marvelous that we get this deep view of diversity so many millions of years ago.

The Yixian Formation has yielded a stunning array of fossils over the years. It's produced the majority of the spectacular feathered dinosaurs of China, says Olsen.

These flattened fossils are very well preserved. There's also a whole suite of 3-dimensional fossils of both carnivorous dinosaurs and plant-eating dinosaurs, which include distant relatives of animals like triceratops, Olsen says.

But that didn't really make sense to Olsen. He reflected on the people who died in Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius erupted and quickly buried the city.

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