Beaconites is the name given to the trace fossils of burrow or tunnel networks that were first seen in the Cambrian Period more than 500 million years ago. These burrows tend to be small in scale, cylindrical and unbranched, and they may have been constructed either in a straight line or in a more curving, sinuous shape. The burrows often display regularly organized infill layers, called menisci, that were produced behind the animal as it moved forward. The burrows themselves typically have rounded ends.