FOSSIL IDENTIFICATION
Recognizing an object as a fossil – that is recognizing it as a remnant of a once-living being – is sometimes a difficult task. There are no generally applicable rules to help simplify matters, but it is important to note that fossils often resemble modern organisms. This is because modern organisms are descended from fossil ancestors and retain many ancestral characteristics. In seeking analogies between modern and fossil organisms, it is important to realize that the farther one goes back in time, the less resemblance there is between fossils and modern descendants.
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©J.A. Chamberlain, Jr. - Brooklyn College - Earth and Environmental Sciences