The Fossils, although not ancient peoples, are definitely of the ancients. Interestingly, many of the fossils beds are associated with the remains of ancient people. Therefore, because of the association of proximity in time and place, I find this ancients gallery to be a perfect gallery to include the fossils.

Too, what can a person learn from a study of the fossil record. Does it agree with the theory of evolution? Or, does it in fact, prove the creation by God.

The word fossils is from Latin fossilis which means obtained by digging. Fossils are the preserved trace remains of animals, plants and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered and their placement in fossil-containing rock formations (fossiliferous) and sedimentary layers (strata) is known as the fossil record.

A fossil bed is a common term for a layer of identifiable fossiliferous material preserved in sedimentary rocks, buried by deposits and revealed only when denuded by wind, rain, or excavation.

The study of the fossil record is called Paleontology and this study lies on the border between biology and geology, but because it excludes the study of humans, departs from archaeology.

The process of fossilization that occurs when an organism is buried is called permineralization. The empty spaces within an organism that are normally filled with liquid or gas while living become filled with mineral-rich groundwater. The groundwater then separates from the minerals, usually by evaporation allowing the minerals to completely fill these spaces. This process can occur in very small spaces, such as within the cell wall of a plant cell. The smaller the scale of the permineralization, the more detailed the fossils become.

The process of fossilization that occurs when an organism is buried is called permineralization. The empty spaces within an organism that are normally filled with liquid or gas while living become filled with mineral-rich groundwater. The groundwater then separates from the minerals, usually by evaporation allowing the minerals to completely fill these spaces. This process can occur in very small spaces, such as within the cell wall of a plant cell. The smaller the scale of the permineralization, the more detailed the fossils become.

This is a form of diagenesis which is the sum of the physical, chemical, and biological changes that take place in sediments as they become consolidated into rocks, including compaction and cementation, but excluding weathering.

Although many in the past have claimed to find the missing link to the connection of Man to lower species, you might be surprised at what the real truth is.

For a short list of those so called missing link finds, please click on the blue Actual Fossil Record link above.

Denali National Park, (Late Cretaceous), 63.43, -150.32

La Brea Tar Pits, (Pleistocene), 34.0628, -118.356

Dinosaur National Monument

Florissant Fossil Beds, (Eocene, Priabonian)

Purgatoire River Track Site, (Jurassic), 37.61682, -103.59808

Dinosaur State Park, (Jurassic Period), 41.650833, -72.657778

Manchester Quarry, (Triasic Period),

Cutler Fossile Site, (Pleistocene Epoch) 25.615616, -80.306483

Melbourne Bone Bed, (Pleistocene Epoch), 28.1, -80.6

Thomas Farm Vertebrate Fossil Site, (Early Miocene Epoch), 29.86, -82.83

Hagerman Fossil Beds (Pilocene Epoch)

Falls of the Ohio State Park, (Devonian Period), 38.2770282, -85.7631040

Pipe Creek Sinkhole, (Pilocene Epoch), 40.46081, -85.79462

Fossil Prairie Park, (Devonian)

Calvert Cliffs State Park (Miocene Epoch) 38.402778, -76.421944

Minehaha Falls Park, (Ordovician Period), 44.915, -93.21

Agate Fossil Beds, Harrison, NE (Moicene Epoch)

Ash Fall Fossil Beds, Royal, NE (Miocene Epoch) 41.298056, -102.12

Ellisdale Fossil Site, (Late Cretaceous), 40.155547, -74.646458

Hadrosaurus foulkii Leidy Site, (Creataceous), 39.91018, -75.02856

Ghost Ranch, (Triassic), 36.329789, -106.474

Walcott-Rust Quarry, (Ordovician Period), 43.277222, -75.138889

Wannagan Creek Site, (Paleocene Epoch),

Theodore Roosevelt National Park,

John Day Fossil Beds, Mitchel, OR (Clamo Unit-Eocene)

Badlands National Park, Imlay Township, SD (Oligocene)

The Mammoth Site, (Paleocene Epoch), 43.42471, -103.48313

Coon Creek Science Center, (Late Cretaceous), 35.3336154, -88.4271551

Gary Fossil Site, (early Pilocene) 36.386, -82.498

Aguja Formation, Big Bend National Park, Texas (29.3, -103.5)

Dinosaur Valley State Park, (Creataceous-Aptian/Albian), 32.25325, -97.818586

Lake Meredith NRA, (Moocene Epoch), 35.714722, -101.552778

Mount Blanco, (Pilocene Epoch), 33.791389, -101.253056

Canyonlands National Park, (Jurassic)

Capitol Reef National Park, (Jurassic)

Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, (Jurassic Period), 39.3228383, -110.6877736

Dinosaur National Monument, Jensen, Utah

Zion National Park, (Jurassic) 37.2002260, -112.9870122

Canyonlands National Par

Isle La Motte, Lake Champlain (Ordovician Period) 44.866389, -73.330833

Klondike Mountain, (Early Eocene-Ypresian), 48.7, -118.7

Krukowski Quarry, (Cambrian Period), 44.714, -89.524

Bone Cabin Quarry, (Jurassic Period) 41.9671, -106.291

Como Bluff, (early Cretaceous) 41.916111, -106.064167

Fossil Butte Fossil Beds, Kemmerer, WY (Eocene Epoch)

Red Qulch Dinosaur Tracksite, (Jurassic), 44.4862, -107.78748