The earliest geological period of the Palaeozoic era. It is estimated to have begun about 542 million years ago and lasted for some 56 million years. During this period marine animals with mineralized shells made their first appearance and Cambrian rocks are the first to contain an abundance of fossils. Cambrian fossils are chiefly of marine animals; they include trilobites, which dominated the Cambrian seas, echinoderms, brachiopods, molluscs, and primitive graptolites (from the mid-Cambrian). Trace fossils also provide evidence for a variety of worms. See also cambrian explosion.
http://palaeos.com/paleozoic/cambrian/cambrian.html Illustrated insights into Cambrian stratigraphy and life forms