8.1: Fossils
- Page ID
- 62180
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Fossils are a record of past life on Earth and are crucial in understanding evolutionary changes. In an earlier chapter we discussed Darwin’s idea of the Tree of Life—how all living things are connected. We also discussed Linnaeus’ schema to classify life on Earth. There is also a Tree of Life for the fossil record, or a classification scheme to identify fossils using the Linneaus system. It is important to note that the fossil record is not complete. Most things that lived on the planet did not fossilize; therefore, there are gaps in the record and our knowledge. However, using comparative anatomy, homologies and genetics (when possible), each new fossil helps fill in one of those gaps.