Fossils are any evidence of past life on Earth.   Fossils include remains such as bones, shells, or leaves and their imprints.  Tracks, dung, birds' nests, bee hives, burrows, and other evidence of past life are also an important part of the fossil record.  Scientists who study fossils are called paleontologists. (Paleo= ancient) 

Click here for directions on making your own fossil. 
 
 

EON	ERA	PERIOD	EPOCH
Phanerozoic	Cenozoic	Quaternary	Holocene Mass Extinction?   Pleistocene Rancho La Brea Tar Pits
		Tertiary	Pliocene  Miocene Ashfall Fossil Beds Oligocene  Eocene  Paleocene
	Mesozoic  Dinosaurs!	Cretaceous  Mass Extinction	Late  Early
		Jurassic	Late  Middle  Early
		Triassic	LateIschigualasto  Early
	Paleozoic  Brachiopods  Trilobites    image copyright (c) 1995  by Andrew MacRae	Permian  Mass Extinction  Peabody Mural	Late  Early
		Pennsylvanian (UpperCarboniferous)  Tully Monster	Late  Middle  Early
		Mississippian (Lower Carboniferous)  Crinoids	Late  Early
		Devonian  Mass Extinction	Late  Middle  Early
		Silurian  Virtual Silurian Reef	Late  Middle  Early
		Ordovician  Mass Extinction	Late  Middle  Early
		Cambrian  Mass Extinction  Burgess Shale	Late  Middle  Early

 Click on this pre-Cambrian organism to learn about the earliest fossils.