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Genetic evidence from modern sponges suggests that sponges emerged during the Neoproterozoic era, between one billion and 541 million years ago. However, fossilized sponge bodies from this period have been lacking. “The search for definitive physical evidence of pre-Cryogenian multicellular animals is confounded by uncertainty about what to look for, but preserved physical evidence should be small, subtle and possibly altogether unfamiliar,” said Professor Elizabeth Turner, a paleontologist in the Harquail School of Earth Sciences at Laurentian University. “Given that sponges are the most basic of known animals, physical evidence of Neoproterozoic sponges could be sought, but effort focused on the characteristics of mineralized sponge skeletons overlooks sponges with only spongin or keratin skeletons.” “Early evidence of multicellular animals might instead resemble preservational products of sponge soft tissue rather than mineralized sponge skeletal components.” “Although molecular clock data suggest that sponges emerged in the early Neoproterozoic, the oldest undisputed sponge body fossils are from the Cambrian period.”