Fossils
by Herb Dierking

"Man in his arrogance thinks himself a great work worth the interposition of a deity. More humble and I think truer to consider him created from animals." — Charles Darwin (Clark)

The study of the fossil record by paleontologists is important to scientific research because they provide an indisputable record of the progression of life. As a result, fossils are the principal evidence that supports Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, as well as presenting mankind with clues to what has caused a series of worldwide mass extinctions throughout the millennia. Fossils, as defined by Cyril Walker and David J. Ward, "are the remains of long dead plants and animals that have escaped the rotting process and, after many years, become part of the earth's crust" (6).

The study of these prehistoric curiosities is a long and tumultuous one. The ancient Greeks appear to have been the first educated people to have interest in the peculiarities of the rocks. They called these objects "fodere," which is Latin for "dug up" ("Fossils" 723). According to one source, it was the renowned philosopher Aristotle who originally "recognized fossils to be evidence of past life" (Colbert 634) encased in the stones, although he fancifully believed that they had grown there. The research of their forefathers was later suppressed in medieval England by the Christian Church's belief in "special creations," which claims that the universe and all living things in it were created in just 6 days by a divine being or "God," which precluded any opportunity for either long-term progression or mass extinction, both of which were radical ideas at that time. It was not until the seventeenth-century Renaissance-era aristocrats began to collect and display these curiosities in their private collections that modern men began to question their theological and narcissistic view of the natural world, and were the first people known to have recorded their observations in an attempt to explain the origin of these unusual objects. The Encyclopedia Brittanica states that it was the famous painter and inventor Leonardo DaVinci who originally hypothesized that rapid burial and protection from the elements was the primary mechanism for fossilization (Colbert 634). In the late eighteenth century, geologist George Buffon, after meticulous examination of various sedimentary deposit layers, suggested that the earth was much older than previously estimated, and was in fact, many millions of years old! Prior to the dawn of the 1900's, geologist John Phillips attempted to organize the history of all natural life into a timeline that he called the Phanerozoic, meaning "visible life," which he then subdivided into three major epochs that he named the Paleozoic (old life), Mesozoic (middle life), and Cenozoic (new life) (Norman 14). These various events, in time, led to the modern science of paleontology (the study of fossils), whose practitioners are akin to forensic scientists.

The aforementioned paleontologists benefit greatly from having a wide variety of source material to examine and research. The most common and well-recognized fossils are those preserved through the process of petrifaction. This process occurs when living tissue is replaced over the course of many millennia with mineral matter, which eventually takes on the appearance and microscopic structure of the original object. Most of the dinosaur skeletons found in the Natural History museums results from this process. Fossil fuels are another type of organic remnant. The majority of all fuel consumed in an industrialized society is in some way created from decayed carboniferous material. Coal is one of the primary materials used to create cola gas, coke, water gas, and producer gas. Petroleum is processed and used to manufacture gasoline, kerosene, oil, and rubber. A third type of fossil, although rare, is called natural mold. After specimens are enclosed in rock created from hardened sediments, water percolating down through the ground layers disintegrates the remains, leaving a cavity in which only a mold is preserved. Scientists are able to discern what the object is by using flexible polymers to create a realistic cast of the original article. Finally, in an example popularized by Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park film, insects are often found preserved in amber. These fossils were created when an insect was trapped in oozing tree sap that later hardened and crystallized in the form of amber. Other, more rare fossil discoveries have included prehistoric eggs (many with developed fetuses); imprints of plant material; and coprolites, the technical term for petrified animal waste.

Clearly, the study of these long-forgotten relics has contributed to science and society in a number of ways. In addition to their substantial support for the evolutionary process, their discovery has also been very useful in helping geologists to determine the age of our planet by studying the sedimentary layers. Paleopathologists trace modern diseases back through the mists of time, in order to see how certain organisms may have been negatively affected (Colbert 640). And paleoecologists use fossils to study "the extent of former seas and the relationship of former land masses" (Colbert 640), based upon the concentration of once living material in a localized area. The only thing the study of fossils has not been able to definitively tell us is why so many plants and animals have been lost to the relentless onslaught of time. Perhaps there still remains an undiscovered clue that will yet reveal all of the earth's subtle secrets. Until that time, mankind is left to ponder the riddles of the rocks.

Source Index

Clark, William. The Survival of Charles Darwin. 1st ed. New York: Random House, 1984. Back cover.

Colbert, William. "Fossils." The Encyclopedia Brittanica. Vol. 11. Danbury: Grolier, Inc., 2000. 634-642.

"Fossils." Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary. 2nd ed. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983.

Norman, David. Dinosaur. New York: Prentice Hall, 1991. 14.

Walker, Cyril, and David J. Ward. The Eyewitness Handbook of Fossils. 1st ed. New York: Dorling-Kindersley, 1992. 6.