The present study revealed that taxonomically diverse and well-preserved acritarchs occur throughout the Upper Silesian succession, indicating the presence of the Lower, Middle and Upper Cambrian series. Age-diagnostic acritarch associations have enabled stratigraphic relationships within the investigated Cambrian strata to be established, demonstrating a normal geological succession and low to moderate thermal alteration. The bio-chronology of the succession constrains the relative age of the deformation and metamorphism of the underlying metasedimentary basement sequence, which can be referred to the Cadomian orogeny. It also brackets the age of molasse deposits within the succession, here regarded as post-Cadomian.