In the article we will analyze which science studies the fossil remains of extinct organisms, what is the practical sense in this, and why their remains have generally survived to this day.
Ancient times
According to some estimates of scientists, life on our planet has existed for about 3 billion years, and many biological species have changed on it, ranging from bacteria and ending with algae in the ancient oceans. And ponds, by the way, gave us life. Naturally, the plant world has undergone similar changes.
Even in ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, some researchers, finding the fossilized remains of plants and other organisms, suspected that the world was much older than is commonly believed. True, they did not even suspect the true age of the finds, considering them to be ordinary freaks of nature. Simply put, they did not realize that fossils were many millions of years old. Yes, and they had no way to study them in detail, except for an external examination.
In our time, such finds are very valuable for science, and researchers on the basis of them will learn a lot about the past eras and periods. What science studies the fossil remains of extinct organisms, how do they generally survive after millions of years? In this we will try to figure it out. This topic is very extensive and interesting, but we will focus on the most important thing.
Paleontology
The science that studies the remains of extinct organisms is called paleontology. And scientists, respectively, paleontologists. But what's the point of breaking apart the fossil fragments? What can be determined by them?
The fact is that science as such does not pursue instantaneous and momentary benefits, its purpose is a comprehensive study and knowledge, on the basis of which discoveries are later made, which are used in practice. For example, the theory of relativity, or rather its aspect about time dilation by gravity, was useful only during the launch of artificial Earth satellites. So now we know which science studies the fossil remains of extinct organisms - this is paleontology.
Such studies help to understand how the flora and fauna has changed and is changing over millions of years, and also supplement Darwin’s evolutionary theory with new supporting facts, which once and for all helped to understand where new biological forms come from and reject the biblical assumption of divine intervention .
Also, analyzing the topic, which science studies the fossil remains of extinct organisms, it is worth remembering that such studies are very important, including in order to prevent the possible extinction of living species and to understand the further and possible path of evolution.
The study
But what can you learn by studying fossils? In fact, for a long time, scientists were greatly constrained by the means, but then various methods of radiocarbon analysis appeared, which could give answers to many questions. For example, the age of the finds, the composition of the food that animals ate, and even the climate of their time! But how are they saved?
Petrification
The whole thing is in the process of petrification. It occurs under certain conditions, such as low access to oxygen, hiding from weather conditions, etc. Gradually, the biological material is “saturated” with mineral compounds and eventually turns into a kind of stone.
But, as a rule, a scientist studying the fossil remains of extinct organisms can rarely find a complete and intact skeleton of a dinosaur or someone else, this is extremely rare, so you have to be content with what you have. Nevertheless, even small remnants of material can shed light on ancient eras and times.
Paleoanthropology
Also, paleoanthropology cannot be ignored. This is a discipline that is part of paleontology, as the name implies, it is engaged in the research of our ancestors and, in general, all the once existing humanoid primates.
Now we know that the science of paleontology is studying the fossil remains of extinct organisms.