The study of fossils is called Paleontology. Fossil means “to dig”. Fossil records show us about life that was unable to adapt and the remains of prehistoric life. Fossils are dug up clues in rocks. If dead bodies are buried in sediment, the hard parts remain such as bones or teeth, and shells.
The Rockies, Alps, and Andes were once under water. Most fossils are made in lakes or seas. The strata are layers of sedimentary rock. The bottom layer of strata is the oldest. The oldest rocks known are 3000 million years old. In 1749 – 250 years ago a unicorn was reconstructed from fossil bones.

To become fossilized a plant or animal must:
1. Usually have hard parts as bone, shell, or wood
2. Be buried quickly to prevent decay
3. Be undisturbed through the process

Sometimes whole animals are preserved. Fossils have shown us that the early elephants were more like hogs. In Siberia and Alaska fossil mammoths about 25,000 years old have been found in frozen ground. Insects have been found in amber (the fossilized sap from trees). Leaves or small marine animals have been buried in mud that hardens to shale and a thin film of carbon remains outlining the form and preserving it.
Silica, iron, and lime are deposited in fossils. Petrified wood is mostly silica. In some fossils the life material has dissolved away and only a cavity remains. If substances fill in the cavity a cast will be formed. Gastroliths that dinosaurs used in digestion have been found. Rocks are formed from mud, sand, and clay in the seas, lakes, caves, deserts, and river valleys. Sedimentary rock contains almost all the fossils found. Rainfall, wind, running water, and evaporation change the surface of the earth. Erosion produces the sediments from which sedimentary rocks are formed.

SEDIMENTARY rock:
Limestone in warm shallow seas is often found w/fossils
Shale from silt and clay
Sandstone in deserts and shallow water with ripple marks and mud cracks
Fossils are a source of coal, oil, and lime. Fossils allow us to plot geography and reconstruct life and history. They are clues to the earth’s past climates and they map rock formations.
Fossil corals, brachiopods, bones, wood and ammonites have been found that lived millions of years ago. Rocks have been found pitted with raindrops, footprints, ripples from waves, and imprints of plants. Wood may become petrifies and turned to stone, or a fossil may be cast as a clam. Coprolite or fossilized excrement has been found. Some fossils are found in AMBER (pine resin) with insects inside. In the ice of Siberia, a wooly mammoth was found preserved.
In the Grand Canyon we can see the strata (layers) of rock. Erosion of rock occurs from weather and plants and water. Rocks can be crushed into soil.
Fossils have been found in mines, where roads or railroads were cut through or canals built, at beaches, rivers and in mountains and gorges.
Paleontologists have discovered dinosaur eggs as big as beach ball, horn coral and coprolites from the Devonian period, a dinosaur tooth from the Triassic age, fossil barnacles, arthropods, gastropods, trilobites, brachiopods, sea urchin, ammonites, worms, an elephant tooth of a mastodon & mammoth, and a large scallop from the Miocene age.

Ray Chapman Andrews developed fossil expeditions. Some were so big that problems arose about how to remove fossils from the ground and carry them home. It wasn’t as easy as just finding them. They wanted to preserve them. There weren’t many maps then.

What to take on a fossil expedition:
Field glasses, cameras, notebook, map, crowbar, pick, shovels, hammer, chisels, wire brush, plaster and shellac for repair.
Draw a chart of the arrangement of bones in rock
Take pictures
Number the bones before removing them
Fossils are pried out of the ground, covered with thin wet paper, covered with plaster – like a plaster cocoon for protection. They may have to be lifted with a block and tackle on a tripod if they are very large. They may be crated and cushioned with wood wool or a soft material when ready for a journey. When they arrive, the cocoon is soaked off, splints removed, paper comes away and there is the bone! The fossil is cleaned on one side then the other on a bed of fine sand. Broken pieces are mended, missing parts restored and inserted and then the experts study the fossil. They may decide to mount the fossil. Fossils are given International Greek or Latin names to not be misunderstood,

   Trilobites are one of the most universally recognized fossils.  Trilobites roamed the sea floors from 520 million years to 250 million ago.  Trilobites were a wonderfully diverse group of arthropods that came in various sizes from less than an inch to several feet in length.  Some of them can have a very exotic look to them. The Biggest Trilobites – Isotelus rex is the largest known species of trilobite. It was found in northern Manitoba.
  
This humongous arthropod measures about 28 inches (72 centimeters) long. Isotelus rex is now on display at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg.

            Ammonite

Cephalopod is the name given to the Squids and Octopus. Ancient Cephalopods often had hard shells that could be straight or spiral and came in elaborate shapes, sizes, designs and colors. They varied in sizes of less than 1/4 in diameter to several feet in diameter. The three main groups of fossil cephalopod remains found are Nautiloids, Ammonites and Belimites.

These ancient beauties lasted from about 400 million years ago to about 160 million years ago when they disappeared about the time the dinosaurs became extinct. The legacy they left behind are some of the most diverse and interesting fossils that can be found.
The largest ammonites – Titanites are often 2 feet (53 centimeters) in diameter. They are found in southern England and come from the Jurassic Period.
Pachydiscus seppenradensis sometimes reach a diameter of 6 ½ feet (2 meters). They are found in Germany from the Cretaceous Period.
Parapuzosia bradyi can be 4 ½ feet (137 centimeters) in diameter. They are found in North American, from the Cretaceous Period.
The Largest Nautiloids – The largest nautiloid on record is called Endoceras. It is from the Ordovician Period and has been measured up to 13 feet (3 ½ meters) long.

Earth’s Oldest Fossils – The evidence of microscopic life forms has been detected as old as 3,700 to 3,800 million years ago. This evidence was found in Isua greenstone in Greenland. There have been claims of evidence dating back as far as 3,850 million years ago but these are not universally accepted.

The Oldest Fish Fossils – The oldest fish fossils on record were found at Chengjiang, in Yunnan Province, China. Two species have been found dating from about 530 million years ago. Haikouichthys ercaicunensis, and Myllokunmingia fengjiaoa, are recent finds. If verified these finds will rewrite the fish chapter of evolution.

Largest Dinosaur – Sauroposeidon may have been the largest dinosaur ever to walk the face of the earth. Scientists believe this gigantic dinosaur would have stood 60 feet tall (18 meters) and weighed 60 tonnes! Sauroposeidon means “earthquake god lizard”. This dinosaur may also hold the record for having the longest neck.

Biggest shark – Megalodon is estimated to have been 40 to 50 feet long and weigh 48 tons!

Oldest Fossil Beds – The oldest fossils of multicelled animals come from two places on earth. The Burgess Shale formation in Canada was long regarded as the oldest fossil bed. The Burgess Shale was formed about 530 million years ago during the Cambrian period. Many early Cambrian Period fossils have been found there. The Chengjiang Deposits of China are thought to be older than Canada’s Burgess Shale. The fossils are found near the town of Chengjiang, in the Yunnan Province of China. This area appears to be about 15 million years older than the Burgess Shale formation.

Brachiopods are benthic (bottom dwelling), marine (ocean), bivalves (having two shells). They are considered living fossils, with 3 orders present in today’s oceans. They are rare today but during the Paleozoic Era they dominated the sea floors.

Though they appear to be similar to clams or oysters they are not related. They are not even mollusks. They belong to the phylum Lophophorata and are related to bryozoans. Crinoids are unusually beautiful and graceful members of the phylum Echinodermata. This is the phylum that brings you starfish, sea urchins, and sand dollars. The crinoids are a breed apart however, they resemble an underwater flower. Some even have parts that look and act like roots anchoring them to the ocean floor. They are commonly called sea lilies. Their graceful stalks can be meters long. Other varieties have no stalks or root like parts. They are commonly known as feather stars. Unlike the sea lilies the feather stars can move about on tiny hook like structures called cirri.

Crinoids are alive and well and living in an ocean near you! They are some of the oldest fossils on the planet. The earliest come from the Ordovician Period.. The few species surviving into the Mesozoic Era thrived. Many new species evolved during this time including the ancestors of the present day class Articulata. These echinoderms were at their height during the Paleozoic era. They could be found all over the world, creating forests on the floor of the shallow seas of this time period.

Carcharodon Megalodon was a giant shark that lived during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs of the Cenozoic Era, between 2 million and 16 million years ago. Little is known about these giant predators because all that remains of their existence are fossilized teeth. These giant shark teeth range in size from 3 inches long to 7 inches long. They are massive things that can be bigger than a man’s hand.

 

Spider captured in amber