Use the pathway to build a clear mental model. Open each node and answer the check question.
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of living things from millions of years ago. They can be bones, teeth, shells, footprints, or even impressions of leaves and feathers. Fossils are found in rocks and give us a window into the past.
Check: Name three things that could become fossils.
Fossils show us what plants and animals looked like long ago - often millions of years before humans existed! By studying fossils, scientists can work out which organisms lived in the past, what they ate, and how they moved. Fossils are like clues in a detective story about Earth's history.
Check: Why are fossils described as "evidence" of the past?
When scientists find fossils in different layers of rock, they can see how life has changed over millions of years. Older rocks (deeper down) contain different fossils to newer rocks (near the surface). This shows us that different types of organisms lived at different times in Earth's history.
Check: Where would you expect to find older fossils - near the surface or deep underground?
Many fossils are of organisms that no longer exist - they are extinct. Dinosaurs are the most famous example. We only know dinosaurs existed because of fossil evidence - bones, teeth, eggs, and footprints preserved in rock for over 65 million years!
Check: How do we know dinosaurs existed if no human ever saw one alive?
A fossil is the preserved remains or traces of a living thing from thousands or millions of years ago. The word "fossil" comes from the Latin word "fossilis", meaning "dug up". Most fossils are found in sedimentary rocks - rocks formed from layers of sand, mud, and other sediments that built up over time.
Fossils are our main source of evidence about life in the past. They show us:
Scientists call all the fossils that have ever been found the "fossil record". It's like a giant history book of life on Earth. However, the fossil record is incomplete - not all organisms become fossils, and not all fossils have been discovered yet. Scientists estimate we have found fossils of less than 1% of all species that ever lived!
Mary Anning (1799-1847) was a British fossil hunter from Lyme Regis in Dorset. At just 12 years old, she discovered the first complete Ichthyosaur fossil - a sea reptile that lived 200 million years ago! Her discoveries proved that strange creatures lived long before humans. The Jurassic Coast in Dorset and Devon is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, famous for its fossils.
In 2020, scientists found over 100 dinosaur footprints on beaches in East Sussex, some of the best-preserved trace fossils ever found in the UK. These footprints were made 145 million years ago by different dinosaur species walking along ancient river banks. The fossils tell us these dinosaurs were plant-eaters and meat-eaters living together in what is now southern England.
Sea creature fossils have been found near the top of Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain! How is this possible? These fossils prove that the rock at the top of Everest was once at the bottom of an ancient sea. Over millions of years, the movement of Earth's plates pushed this rock up to form the Himalayas. Fossils give us evidence about how our planet has changed.
The Natural History Museum in London has over 80 million specimens, including thousands of fossils. "Dippy" the Diplodocus skeleton (now touring the UK) and "Sophie" the Stegosaurus are famous examples. These fossils help millions of visitors each year understand what life was like hundreds of millions of years ago. Scientists at the museum continue to study fossils to make new discoveries about prehistoric life.
Answer all questions, then check your answers. Your quiz result is saved on this device.
Wrong thinking: "Fossils are only dinosaur skeletons." Correct: Fossils can be from any living thing - plants, insects, fish, shells, even bacteria! Fossils also include trace evidence like footprints and burrows, not just body parts. Most fossils are actually of sea creatures like ammonites and trilobites.
Wrong thinking: "Dinosaur fossils are real dinosaur bones." Correct: Most fossils are not the original bones or shells. Over millions of years, the original material is usually replaced by minerals that turn to stone. That's why fossils are so heavy - they're made of rock, not bone!
Wrong thinking: "Every animal that dies will eventually become a fossil." Correct: Fossilisation is actually very rare! Most dead organisms decompose (rot away) completely. Fossils only form when the remains are quickly buried and protected from decay. Scientists estimate only about 1 in every billion organisms ever becomes a fossil.
Wrong thinking: "You can tell how old a fossil is by looking at it." Correct: You cannot tell a fossil's age just by looking. Scientists use special techniques to date fossils, including looking at which rock layer they were found in and measuring radioactive decay. The same type of fossil found in different places could be from different time periods.