Archaeology Notes

We call the formation of fossils “fossilisation”. Fossils form in a really unique way, and it depends on several factors. It is quite hard to have all the favorable conditions to form a fossil. The corpse of the dead animal is usually eaten, or it is even affected by the presence of bacteria before the process of fossilisation can start. Erosion and corrosion are also responsible for destroying harder parts of the body, such as the bones. In order for the process

In the following space, explain the role of fossils in developing the Geologic column. Your explanation must be between 200 and 300 words.

Word Bank: A. Fossil, B. Paleontologist, C. Mold, D. Cast, E. Law of Superposition, F. Petrified Fossil, G. Trace Fossil, H. Scientific Theory, I. Scientific Fact, J. Radioactive Dating, K. Absolute age, L. Extinct, M. Relative Age, N. Unconformity, O. Index Fossil, P. Era, Q. Half Life, R. Geologic Time Scale, S. Period, T. Epoch, U. Mass Extinction, V. Reptile, W. Pangaea, X. Amphibians, Y. Eon

Fossils are organisms that were once living but have now died and been preserved in sediment. Their bones can remains can tell how they lived, what they ate, and what their behavior was like. In the article titles, “Fossils: How Are They Made?”, it states that, “The remains inside the rock also turn to rock. The remains are replaced by minerals. The remains literally turn to stone.” There are also other ways an organism can be fossilized, such as being buried in tar. For example, in the La Brea Tar Pit in the city of Los Angeles, they found remains of many ancient beings such as wooly mammoths and sabertooth tigers. In the video “Death By Tar Pit” on discovery.com, it was stated that remains of over 3 million ice age fossils were found in there because they had died and their remains were preserved in the tar pit. An organism can also be fossilized by being trapped in tree sap which

Fossils are very useful in putting together the history of organisms and how things have evolved over time. They can be found deep in the ground. The long process that makes this possible is fossilization. Fossilization is the process by which the remains of a plant or animal fail to fully decompose and in time, converts into a fossil. In order for organisms to turn into fossils, certain conditions must be met. The soft parts of an organism will often decompose or be consumed by scavengers. Therefore, organisms with hard parts like a shell are more often fossilized, leaving behind the skeleton. Even hard parts such as the skeleton can be destroyed by nature such as waves or by other microorganisms. Most importantly, the chances of fossilization decrease with greater exposure to

In Ice Age 1 Manny, Sid and Diego walk through ice caves. Sid walks down a different corridor than the others and finds creatures frozen in the ice walls. I tell you this mostly to take up sentences, but it also has a point. Animals and plants fossilize in different ways depending on the habitats they live in. The creatures Sid found are frozen, making them a fossil, but only because of the rapid freezing of the ice age.

Have you ever wondered how fossils form in the environment? Will, if you didn’t this is for you. The first stage of the “Fossilization” is when a type of animal dies in a watery environment and is then covered by mud. Then the soft tissues like muscle decompose leaving behind the hard bones, and maybe shells. Next, over time minerals like rock, soil, and others settle over the bones and hardens them to rock along with the others. Then you have your fossil. One of the most unusual fossils is when

In the article, the authors discuss geological mysteries and theories that apparently start animal evolution. Life on Earth has experience a revolution over 500 million years ago, and most groups of animals appeared in Earth’s oceans and then expanded. According to the authors, billions of years of missing rock might help clarify how animals got their mineral skeletons during the explosion of diversification during the Cambrian period.

What is a Fossil? “Fossils are the mineralized remnants or impressions of once-living organisms” (www.actionbioscience.org) Which means “the remains of plants and animals from the past that

A fossil, as we know them, forms from an animal being buried in rocks. Animals that are turned into fossils, of course, first die. They generally get buried in some kind of sediment, whether that be water, or sand, or rock, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that when it goes that far below the earth, the rocks begin to sediment the bones, turning the bones of the creature into rocks themselves. Hence, how fossils are born. I had always been curious at how a fossil could turn from some bones into a bunch of rocks, but if the minerals enter their bones, and turn them into rocks over long periods of time, then it makes sense. These fossils tell us many things such as how old the fossils can be. Fossils are also usually thought of

Good Morning year 11s and welcome to the Museum of Archaeology. On today 's excursion I will be taking you on a tour of the museum and help you acquire the knowledge of what archaeology is, what archaeologist do, learn about one of the most outstanding archaeologist from the past 200 years, get to observe 2 artefacts from the Pandora and discover how they teach us about the everyday life of an 18th century soldier.

A variety of chemical and physical processes change an organism after its death. Taphonomy is the study of these processes and how they are influenced by the activity of humans, animals, and natural agents (Erfemov 1940, Behrensmeyer 2000, Duday 2009, Nawrocki 1995, Stodder 2008:71). Taphonomy is especially important to bioarcheologists because it enables them to reconstruct how mortuary environments affect skeletal remains. Furthermore, there are two main types of taphonomic factors, extrinsic and intrinsic that are analyzed. Extrinsic taphonomic elements represent as the surrounding environmental influences that affect the decomposition of remains. Examples of extrinsic elements include weathering, human disturbance, and plant roots. Intrinsic

The process of diagenesis encodes information regarding the physical and chemical processes operating in nature, which precedes the taphonomical journey of a bone into the lithosphere. When decoded, a fossil or an archaeological bone entails a series of natural processes of modification that perhaps decided the ‘destiny’ of a bone to transform into a fossil over the years of its residence into the sedimentary environment. Understanding these processes involved in the bone diagenesis is crucial to the reconstruction of ecological settings of an area(cite the papers on bone diagenesis and process of fossilization e.g. papers in “Archaeometry 2002 issue on bone diagenesis and also the proceesings of the Conference on “Bone Diagenesis” held

Sauropods, four-footed dinosaurs and researchers know that their skeletal design features were uniquely equipped. Many researchers believe mammals ate dinosaurs which negates the recorded developmental hypothesis. Fossil record, history of life as documented by fossils, the remains or imprints of the organisms from earlier geological periods preserved in sedimentary rock. In a few cases the original substance of the hard parts of the organism is preserved, but more often the original components have been replaced by minerals deposited from water seeping through the rock . Fossil are formed in many ways such as when plants, animals, produce from water environments, and through small insects caught in tree saps. I selected a great article provided by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History shares, “Coauthor Dr. Denver Fowler, who led the group's previous study on sauropod claws added: "dinosaur behavior is a tricky subject to address because most fossils are obviously evidence of dead animals, rather than living ones. However, we can

The motivation that led to the discovery was to go beyond the everyday definition and understanding of what fossils are, why we dig them up, and the creatures they once belonged to. This article, as it was written, was for the purpose of “introducing the reader to the various biological, geological, hydrological, and atmospheric alterations that affect fossil bones and teeth.” The questions being presented are, “what can fossils tell you? “and “what was the specimen’s significance? “This overview of the book “The Morphology of Fossil Bones," goes into greater detail than the dictionary definition of fossils. Each chapter presents new criteria on more specialized topics. For example, chapter two, “[ is] an overview of select traits or characteristics