Shanwang, one of the famous fossil localities in the world, lies 22 kilometers east of the Linqu county town in Shandong province, China. There are a wide variety of well-preserved plant and animal fossils embedded in diatomite layers. Most Chinese paleontologists considered the age of the Shanwang Formation to correspond to the mid-Miocene, but some others belived that it is of the early mid-Miocene age. Shanwang, one of the famous fossil localities in the world, lies 22 kilometers east of the Linqu county town in Shandong province, China. There are a wide variety of well-preserved plant and animal fossils embedded in diatomite layers. Most Chinese paleontologists considered the age of the Shanwang Formation to correspond to the mid-Miocene, but some others belived that it is of the early mid-Miocene age.