--- title: Scientists Discover Oldest Known Bird Ancestor description: The discovery indicates that modern birds originated roughly six million years before previously thought canonical: https://time.com/3847987/researchers-bird-ancestor-discovery/ author: Noah Rayman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-06T02:04:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:57:26.365Z article:section: Science og:title: Oldest Known Ancestor of Modern Birds Is Discovered og:description: It lived some 130 million years ago og:url: https://time.com/3847987/researchers-bird-ancestor-discovery/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0aa742e1f0fb852e/6987ee84e53aba2ea64dbb44/archaeornithura-meemannae.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Holotype of Archaeornithura meemannae, the oldest ancestor of modern birds has been dug up in China which evolved almost six million years earlier than previously thought. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Oldest Known Ancestor of Modern Birds Is Discovered twitter:description: It lived some 130 million years ago twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0aa742e1f0fb852e/6987ee84e53aba2ea64dbb44/archaeornithura-meemannae.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Oldest Known Ancestor of Modern Birds Is Discovered  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman May 6, 2015 2:04 AM UTC  Holotype of Archaeornithura meemannae, the oldest ancestor of modern birds has been dug up in China which evolved almost six million years earlier than previously thought. Holotype of Archaeornithura meemannae, the oldest ancestor of modern birds has been dug up in China which evolved almost six million years earlier than previously thought.National News—Zuma Press  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman May 6, 2015 2:04 AM UTC Scientists said in a paper published Tuesday that a newly discovered species is[ the oldest known relative of living birds](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150428/ncomms7987/full/ncomms7987.html). The _Archaeornithura meemannae_ lived roughly 130.7 million years ago in northeastern China, about 6 million years before the previously thought origin of modern birds, according to the researchers who published their findings in _Nature Communications_. The bird—which looks largely similar to modern birds—was reconstructed mostly from imagination but also from intact plumage and skeletal features, a researcher [told](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/05/05/scientists-find-the-oldest-living-relative-of-modern-birds/) the Washington _Post_. In part because of its long legs, the scientists believe it patrolled water sources looking for food. While a separate bird species that lived some 145 million years ago [remains](http://news.discovery.com/animals/birds-oldest-ancestor-lived-130-million-years-ago-150505.htm) the oldest known bird, but it had no living descendants. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3847987/researchers-bird-ancestor-discovery/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3847987/researchers-bird-ancestor-discovery/"},"headline":"Oldest Known Ancestor of Modern Birds Is Discovered","datePublished":"2015-05-06T02:04:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:57:26.365Z","description":"The discovery indicates that modern birds originated roughly six million years before previously thought","url":"https://time.com/3847987/researchers-bird-ancestor-discovery/","keywords":["Archaeology","animals","birds","dinosaurs"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0aa742e1f0fb852e/6987ee84e53aba2ea64dbb44/archaeornithura-meemannae.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0aa742e1f0fb852e/6987ee84e53aba2ea64dbb44/archaeornithura-meemannae.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Holotype of Archaeornithura meemannae, the oldest ancestor of modern birds has been dug up in China which evolved almost six million years earlier than previously thought.","caption":"Holotype of Archaeornithura meemannae, the oldest ancestor of modern birds has been dug up in China which evolved almost six million years earlier than previously thought.","creditText":"National News—Zuma Press","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/archaeology/","name":"Archaeology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3847987/researchers-bird-ancestor-discovery/","name":"Oldest Known Ancestor of Modern Birds Is Discovered"}}]}] ```