The fossilized remains of an entire prehistoric ecosystem, complete with footprints of extinct animals, have been discovered by accident in the Italian Alps. Dating to 280 million years ago, the creatures that created these vivid impressions were alive during the Permian period,

Beneath the snowy slopes lay a prehistoric surprise: an ecosystem that predates the dinosaurs, revealed by melting snow before being stumbled upon by a hiker in the Italian Alps.

Beneath the snowy slopes lay a prehistoric surprise: an ecosystem that predates the dinosaurs, revealed by melting snow before being stumbled upon by a hiker in the Italian Alps.

Claudia Steffensen was hiking in the Italian Alps last summer when she stepped on a rock that caught her eye. "It seemed more like a slab of cement" with "these strange circular designs with wavy lines,