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The oldest treasures on display during the National Arts Festival are about 360-million years old — more than 100-million years older than the first dinosaurs.

The discovery of remains of a lobe-finned fish, excavated by hand by Albany Museum and Rhodes University's Dr Rob Gess, was published in a paper this week.

Hyneria udlezinye lived 360 million years ago during the period known as the Devonian and its existence is now known thanks to a prehistoric jigsaw puzzle that took 37 years to piece together.

Lampreys are blood-sucking predatory fish. The earliest ancestors of all vertebrates, including ourselves, were thought to resemble their worm-like babies. Now, recently discovered fossils have overturned that theory, raising new questions about what our ancestors were really like.

 E-Mail IMAGE: Artist's reconstruction showing the life stages of the fossil lamprey Priscomyzon riniensis. It lived around 360 million years ago in a coastal lagoon in what is now South Africa. Clockwise... view more  Credit: Kristen Tietjen Ottawa, March 10, 2021 - A new study of fossilized lampreys dating from more than 300 million years ago is challenging a long-held theory about the evolutionary origin of vertebrates (all animals with a backbone). The findings are published March 10 in the science journal Nature. Lampreys are ancient, jawless, eel-like fishes that arose around...