II

THE NATURE OF FOSSILS

Simply defined, fossils are the remains or traces of organisms that lived
prior to historic times. T h e y most commonly preserve the shape or impression of the organism itself in rock, but they m a y be actual bone, or
flesh preserved by freezing, or trails and other marks made by ancient
animals. T o d a y it is generally accepted that life has existed on our earth
for m o r e than two billion years, and that fossils are important clues to
understanding its history and development. These facts seem obvious today, yet men for centuries refused to believe the evidence before their
eyes that life had existed on earth for a very long time.

T H E EARLIEST P A L E O N T O L O G I S T S
T h e ancient Greeks recognized that marine shells found in outcroppings
around the Mediterranean Sea marked areas that had once been under
water. Herodotus, the Greek historian and traveler, mentioned fossil seashells he had seen in Egypt and drew the conclusion that the sea had
at some time covered Lower Egypt.
But other Greek thinkers left behind some mischievous ideas, such
as Aristotle's teachings that there had been only a single creation. These
ideas became mingled with the Church's dogma of the literal creation
in six days and effectively stifled men's sense of inquiry until the 1 5 t h
century.
Leonardo da Vinci ( 1 4 5 2 - 1 5 1 9 ) , the great painter and architect, reasoned rightly that the presence of fossils uncovered in Lombardy indicated
12

THE N A T U R E OF FOSSILS

13

that northern Italy had been repeatedly inundated by the sea. H o w e v e r ,

he was one of the few free spirits of his age, an age when most men
described fossils as sports of nature (lusi naturae), as seeds of life that
had grown by accident in the rocks, or as the bones of unicorns, legendary
giants, or sinners drowned in the Biblical Flood.
But it was in this age that fossils got their name. Georgius Agricola
( 1 4 9 4 - 1 5 5 5 ) , the first professional mineralogist, used the Latin word
fossilis in his great work on systematic mineralogy, De natura fossilium,
published in 1 5 4 6 . To Agricola, fossilis meant anything dug up from the
earth; later writers picked up the word from him and distilled its m e a n ing to include only what we now call fossils.
The Renaissance brought an intellectual climate that allowed a more
rational view of nature. Count George Louis Leclerc Buffon ( 1 7 0 7 - 1 7 8 8 )
recognized that the rocks of the Paris basin were the product of untold
ages of erosion and deposition. He also saw that they could not be
sandwiched into the estimate of the age of the earth, made from the
Biblical chronology, of about 6 , 0 0 0 years. His contemporary, the Scottish
geologist James Hutton ( 1 7 2 6 - 1 7 9 7 ) , went a giant step further. While
such men as Buffon were attempting to explain a w a y the contradiction
by presuming that catastrophes had hastened the changes they plainly
saw, or else fancied that what the Bible spoke of as days should be read
as epochs of time, H u t t o n boldly faced the facts. He put a solid foundation under the study of geology and of fossils with his principle of
uniformitarianismthat geological forces in the past were like those
operating today and that no extraordinary forces or events need be invented or conjured up to explain geological history.
Another Frenchman, Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de M o n e t , Chevalier
de Lamarck ( 1 7 4 4 - 1 8 2 9 ) , in his little book Hydrogeologie ( 1 8 0 2 ) , first
definitely restricted the word " f o s s i l " to " t h e still-recognizable remains
of organized bodies." Elsewhere he made the first major study of invertebrate paleontology and advanced the theory that all life had developed
progressively from rudimentary forms to its culmination in m a n a theory
of evolution.
At the same time, Baron Georges Chretien Leopold D a g o b e r t Cuvier
( 1 7 6 9 - 1 8 3 2 ) was laying the foundations of vertebrate paleontology. He
had also discovered that a series of deposits made up the Paris basin
and that each one had characteristic fossils by which it could be recognized wherever it appeared. This principle was confirmed by the independent discoveries made across the Channel by William Smith ( 1 7 6 9 1 8 3 9 , ) who is usually described as the father of English geology. Smith,
a surveyor, examined the fossils found as his men dug canals, noted that
he could use them as indicators of the type of ground to be expected

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FOSSILS FOR A M A T E U R S

elsewhere, and f r o m this experience developed toward the end of the

eighteenth century his fundamental principle of correlationthat like
rock strata have like fossils by which the strata can be recognized
wherever they are found.
W i t h the work of such men, with the summing up of their discoveries
by Sir Charles Lyell in his Principles of Geology, and with acceptance of
Darwin's theory of evolution, men finally began to comprehend the meaning of fossils.

H O W FOSSILS A R E F O R M E D
Becoming a fossil is no easy adventure. In the more than two billion
years of life on earth, an incalculable number of organisms have lived
and died. If all had been preserved, our earth would have become nothing but a mass of fossils. Fortunately, most organisms have returned
to the earth from which they came and left no fossil litter behind.
A creature destined to become a fossil usually is one that possesses
hard parts, such as a shell, horny armor like a crab, or bones that will
resist the abrasive effect of water and wind and the appetites of bacteria.
As has been said, " Y o u have to be hard and tough to get into the fossil
r e c o r d . " Besides being tough the creature must come to rest in a place
where it stands a good chance of being buried before it decays or disintegrates. If it is not buried deeply and quickly, aerobic bacteria will reduce it to rubble; or water, given enough time, will dissolve it.
For this reason, fossils of some kinds of organisms are rarer than
others. Butterflies, for example, are c o m m o n in nature, but their soft
bodies and fragile wings leave few epitaphs in nature's graveyard. The
soft tissues of jellyfish likewise stand little chance of becoming fossils
even though their marine environment is far more favorable for this
purpose then land.
T h e ideal place to become a fossil is at the bottom of a quiet sea or
lake where the prospective fossil is safe from damage and where it is
covered rapidly with fine sediment. Clay is excellent. The sediment protects the tissues and helps to exclude predators and solvent water. If
the w a t e r is poisoned with dissolved chemicals that will keep predators
a w a y , so much the better for the future fossil's chances.
Consequently, fossils are most commonly found in fine-grained sedim e n t a r y rocks, such as shale derived from the compressed clay and silt
of an ancient sea or lake bottom, or in limestone formed in w a r m sea
water by chemical precipitation and the constant accumulation of carbonate shells of living organisms. W a v e currents strong enough to wash
in sand and gravel are also strong enough to sweep a w a y or damage

THE N A T U R E O F FOSSILS

15

most shells and skeletons; hence only the toughest fragments of fossils
are generally present in sandstones and conglomerates.
Fossils, then, are not only fairly rare as compared with the plenitude
of life through the long history of the earth, but they also give a distorted view of it, because of nature's favoritism to certain types of organisms. Furthermore, comparatively few of earth's fossil resources have
been tapped. It has been said that all the fossils available to science
represent the variety of life of the past about as accurately as one m o s quito represents the enormous variety of insect life today. Reconstructing
the past from fossils is like trying to recreate the Parthenon f r o m a
basket of marble fragments. Here a piece of column, there a tile from
the roof, here a limb of a s t a t u e h o w did they once fit together?
But imperfect though the fossil record m a y be, it is the definitive record
written in the rocks, and it is written in m a n y w a y s . Fossils can be
divided into half a dozen categories of preservation. M o s t specimens
found by the average collector will fall into two or three categories, but
some acquaintance with the others is also his legitimate concern. These
divisions, in order of progressive change, include fossils preserved by
freezing, drying, original preservation, petrifaction, and carbonization, and
those preserved as casts and molds.

The person who brought this specimen to a museum identified it as a fossil cow's
head. It is a piece of flint, a pseudofossil.

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FOSSILS FOR A M A T E U R S

Freezing
T h e best-preserved fossils are those of organisms that have been frozen
quickly. O n l y a few species of not-very-old fossils have been so preserved
to this day, notably some of the large Pleistocene m a m m o t h s that were
mysteriously frozen while wandering about Siberia and Alaska about ten
thousand years ago. These m a m m o t h s , still melting out of the permafrost,

Frozen mammoth from Alaska in refrigerator case.

Natural History, New York)

(Photo American Museum of

THE N A T U R E OF FOSSILS

17

were frozen so rapidly that the last mouthful a pachyderm was munching
before its unfortunate accident remains unchewed in its mouth. Such
fossils are difficult to collect and even more difficult to display. The A m e r ican Museum of Natural History in N e w Y o r k has the front part of a
small m a m m o t h from Alaska on display in a glass-walled freezer. Similar
frozen fossils are eagerly collected by the Eskimos, who chop them up
and feed them to their dogs, a strange use indeed for fossils.

Drying
About the time the m a m m o t h s were freezing in the northlands, other
vertebrates crawled into caves in southern desert regions and died. In
this aseptic environment they became mummified. Bones and tissues of
these desiccated denizens of the desert are preserved, although often they
fall apart at the slightest touch. Even skin and hair retain their original
color. Such fossils are the only accurate evidence available to the scientist
trying to restore a bag of bones and give it the proper clothing.

Original Preservation
Bones, teeth, shells, and wood can be buried and remain chemically unchanged for millions of years. M o s t Miocene, Eocene, and Pleistocene
shells such as those found in M a r y l a n d , Virginia, Florida, and California
are essentially the same as when they were buried. O f t e n the only clue
to tell these 20-million-year-old shells f r o m their modern counterparts
is loss of color and luster. M a n y bones dredged up in midwestern gravel
pits are little changed since they once held together ice-age animals.
O n e location in Tennessee produces 135-million-year-old Cretaceous
shells of remarkably modern appearance, even to the pearly luster. Sometimes the original aragonite of the shells has changed to calcite, c h e m ically the same but different in crystal structure. Logs embedded in
Eocene coal deposits often resemble a modern-day fireplace log and are
quite capable of being burned.
Relatively recent fossils of animals preserving flesh, skin, and hair have
been dredged from peat bogs, where tannic acid in the water has saved
them from decay. The body of a man so fossilized rests in the science
museum in Copenhagen, Denmark, his face clearly showing a three-day
stubble of beard. In Galicia, now part of the Soviet Union, a rhinoceros
carcass was found pickled in an oil seep.

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FOSSIL5 FOR A M A T E U R S

Petrifaction
No category of fossil preservation is so misunderstood as petrifaction
(sometimes spelled petrification). Everyone has heard of petrified wood.
T h e word "petrified" comes from the Greek word petros, meaning " s t o n e , "
and petrifaction literally means " t u r n e d to s t o n e . " Unfortunately, many
persons consider any fossil petrified. But strictly speaking, a fossil is
petrified only when additional minerals have been deposited in pores or
cavities in the fossil, or when the fossil is entirely replaced by other m a terial. Consider a piece of wood. It can petrify in three distinct ways,
each with a distinctive result with a distinctive n a m e :
1. By filling the empty spaces with some mineral, as water fills the empty
spaces in a sponge. This is called permineralization. Dissolve this
mineral, and the original piece of wood remains.
2. By filling the empty spaces with mineral, then dissolving the cellulose
and wood fibers and replacing them with mineral matter, often of a
different color. T h e result is a piece of stone that faithfully reproduces

Petrified wood first became common in the Pennsylvanian period. The lack of growth
rings on this Sigillaria trunk suggests an even climate with no seasons to affect rate
of growth. The wood is replaced by calcite. Knoxville, Iowa.

THE N A T U R E OF FOSSILS

19

Wood replaced by quartz, found in Utah. Growth rings are indicated by alternating
brown and white quartz. Cracks filled by clear quartz suggest wood dried before
silicification.

every cell and detail. But dissolve a w a y the mineral matter and there is
nothing.

This is called

histometabasis, or m o r e

commonly,

replace-ment.

3. By surrounding the wood with mud or sand that h a r d e n s around it.

W h e n the wood decays or is dissolved, a mold is left which fills with

Once driftwood, now quartz. This piece of petrified wood from New Mexico floated
long enough to wear away bark and soft wood before sinking and becoming a fossil.

- t

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FOSSILS FOR A M A T E U R S

The wood was replaced by barite, which has crystallized into typical radiating masses.
Orlando, Oklahoma.

mineral m a t t e r . T h e result is a piece of w h a t looks like wood on the

outside, but inside m a y be banded agate or even a geode with sparkling
a m e t h y s t cry st als, showing no cellular detail at all. T h i s type of r e p l a c e m e n t is o f t e n called pseudomorph ( " f a l s e f o r m " ) . T h i s also occurs
in m i n e r a l s w h e r e o n e mineral has faithfully replaced another mineral
c r y st a l , such as a calcite crystal replaced by quartz that retains the
crystal shape of the calcite.
All three of these quite different processes are correctly termed petrification or petrifaction.
PERMINERALIZATION
B o n e , plant materials, and m a n y shells are porous enough f o r permineralization or replacement to occur. T h e b e s t example is the coal ball, found
in some coal m i n e s . T h i s is n o t h i n g more than a m a s s of Coal A g e plant
f r a g m e n t s and seeds that has b e c o m e permineralized by calcite or sometimes by iron sulfide (pyrite or m a r c a s i t e ) . W h e n the coal ball has been
permineralized by calcite, the collector can p e r f o r m the interesting opera-

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21

Chonetes fragilis, a brachiopod from the Devonian shale of Sylvania, Ohio. Like most
brachiopods from this area, it is replaced by pyrite.

tion of peeling off a thin layer of the actual w o o d y material of these

2 7 5 - m i l l i o n - y e a r - o l d plants. (Details are explained in C h a p t e r 1 0 ) .
Permineralization is c o m m o n in petrified w o o d , but too o f t e n the m i n eral filling the e m p t y spaces is quartz, which can be readily dissolved
only by hydrofluoric acid. Peels, h o w e v e r , have b e e n m a d e of silicified
wood in the same way coal-ball peels are m a d e . Q u a r t z and calcite are

The small straight cephalopod Pseudorthoceras knoxense is often found

pyritized like this one in Pennsylvanian black shales. O m a h a , Nebraska.

brightly

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FOSSILS FOR A M A T E U R S

the minerals m o s t c o m m o n l y f o u n d in permineralized fossils, but others

include pyrite, m a r c a s i t e , b a r i t e , selenite, opal, and m a n g a n e s e oxide.
REPLACEMENT
R e p l a c e m e n t is o f t e n met with. C o a l mines sometimes produce beautifully
" p y r i t i z e d " snails, clams , and brachiopods. Actually, m o s t o f this " p y r i t e "
is m a r c a s i t e , the less stable f o r m of iron sulfide. It is hard to draw the
line b e t w e e n a replacement and a p s e u d o m o r p h , especially in fossil shells,
although, strictly speaking, in replacement only the shell is replaced; in
a p s e u d o m o r p h b o t h the shell and its filling are replaced. Beautifully
pyritized brachiopods h a v e b e e n f o u n d in the Silica shale ( D e v o n i a n ) of
O h i o . Silica-replaced b r a c h i o p o d s occur in N e w M e x i c o , and silica-replaced
corals, stained a beautiful red, are f o u n d in U t a h . Large colonies of
Lithostrotionella, a Mississippian coral replaced by colorful quartz, are
f o u n d in southeast I o w a . T h e s e retain the fine detail of the original
o r g a n i s m . A n o t h e r colonial coral, Hexagonaria, occurs as handsome specim e n s filled with calcite in D e v o n i a n f o r m a t i o n s in M i c h i g a n . W h e n
washed up, rounded by the w a v e s , on L a k e M i c h i g a n b e a c h e s , these are

Petoskey stone, perhaps the best-known invertebrate fossil, the state rock of Michigan.
This Devonian coral, Hexagonaria, is replaced by calcite in contrasting colors. It takes
a fine polish, as in this piece.

THE N A T U R E OF FOSSILS

23

k n o w n as " P e t o s k e y s t o n e s " and are eagerly collected. T h i s soft, tan

material, which polishes well to display the inner w o r k i n g s of the fossil,
has b e e n declared the official state r o c k of M i c h i g a n .

The original matrix, limestone, as well as these clams, is replaced by hematite. Such
dark-brown fossils are common in the Minnesota iron range; however, this one is
from Missouri.

PSEUDOMORPHS
T r u e pseudomorph plants are f o u n d in lava flows in the Pacific N o r t h west, where trees engulfed by h o t lava were b u r n e d a w a y but left a
faithful mold in the hardened lava. E v e n a mold of an u n f o r t u n a t e
rhinoceros, formed in this fiery f u r n a c e , is k n o w n f r o m there. S u c h cavities
may b e c o m e filled with agate. A slab of this agate does n o t look like a
slab of petrified wood f r o m the Petrified Forest in A r i z o n a ; it l o o k s like
any banded agate because it had a c h a n c e to replace only the shape of
the tree, not the grain of the wood.
Agate pseudomorphs of coral are dug f r o m the b o t t o m of Hillsborough
Bay at T a m p a , Florida. T h e y s h o w traces of coral structure on the outside but the interior cavity is lined with vividly colored layers of chal-

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FOSSILS FOR A M A T E U R S

Silicified fossils may be replaced with transparent or translucent quartz that allows
light to pass through the fossil, such as this fossil snail from the Miocene of Florida.

c e d o n y or w i t h drusy quartz c r y s t a l s ; the original coral had completely

dissolved b e f o r e the c h a l c e d o n y arrived.
HOW

PETRIFACTION

OCCURS

T h e process of petrifaction can m o s t easily be understood by analogy to

a w a t e r pipe in a h o u s e . M o s t w a t e r has s o m e degree of " h a r d n e s s "
that is, it contains minerals it dissolved while percolating through rock and
soil u n d e r g r o u n d . G i v e n e n o u g h time, w a t e r will dissolve almost any
mineral. T h e process is h a s t e n e d w h e n w a t e r a b s o r b s c a r b o n dioxide
gas and b e c o m e s a w e a k acid. It picks up c a r b o n dioxide while falling
through the air as rain, or by release of the gas f r o m decaying organisms
in the soil. F u r t h e r m o r e , w a t e r draining slowly through soil will pick up
such organic a m m u n i t i o n as tannic or humic acid. T h i s acid water seeps
slowly into the g r o u n d , where it dissolves minerals in its underground
passage.
W a t e r can hold only so m u c h dissolved mineral m a t t e r b e f o r e it is
saturated. As hot saturated w a t e r cools or evaporates, the excess mineral
m a t t e r crystallizes on any o b j e c t in c o n t a c t with the w a t e r . T h i s may be
a w a t e r pipe. Each surge of w a t e r passing through the pipe deposits an

THE N A T U R E O F FOSSILS

25

imperceptible layer of mineral. T h i s is especially true in h o t - w a t e r pipes.

S o m e t i m e s pipes b e c o m e so filled with mineral deposits that the plumbing
must be replaced.
W o o d and b o n e , and to a lesser extent shells, are c o m p o s e d of closely
connected pipes through which water can m o v e . W h e n these organic
remains are buried under a lake or o c e a n , w a t e r has a c h a n c e to m o v e
through these natural pipes and to deposit layer a f t e r layer of mineral
in the channels or cells. T h e cell filling m a y b e c o m e b r i g h t l y colored by
tiny amounts of dissolved m e t a l s ; the bright reds, y e l l o w , g r e e n s , and
browns in petrified wood are caused by iron. B l a c k s are o f t e n made by
trace amounts of m a n g a n e s e , and copper or nickel can create g r e e n s .
Little by little the tubes are plugged u p , and the result is a permineralized
fossil. If a mold is filled, it is a pseudomorph.
Petrified wood and b o n e are c o m m o n l y filled by q u a r t z - b e a r i n g solutions, especially w h e n the fossil is buried in volcanic a s h , w h i c h is rich
in silica. W a t e r percolating through the ash, which m a y remain w a r m
for a long time, dissolves the silica and immediately deposits it in the
wood or b o n e fibers. W h e t h e r this takes place in a relatively short time
is uncertain. N o b o d y has ever b e e n able to petrify w o o d effectively in
a laboratory.

Carbonization
Carbonization, also k n o w n as distillation, is one process that preserves
fossils of soft-bodied animals and leaves and stems of plants. C a r b o n i z a tion chemically alters the proteins and cellulose of tissues through d e g r a dation by bacteria, by chemical action, and by pressure and h e a t , until
only carbon films remain. O t h e r organic materials are dissipated as gases
c a r b o n dioxide, m e t h a n e , hydrogen sulfide, and w a t e r vapor. For e x a m ple, a thick, fleshy fern leaf of P e n n s y l v a n i a n times falls into mud. H u n dreds of millions of years later a paper-thin b l a c k c a r b o n copy of the
leaf is found, perfectly preserving its details in shale. C o a l is f o r m e d in
the same w a y , but on a m u c h larger scale. C a r b o n i z e d plants are c o m m o n
in the shale overlying coal seams.
Carbonization preserved specimens of the Silurian w o r m Lecthyalus
gregarius which wriggled a b o u t C h i c a g o seas 4 0 0 million y e a r s ago. C a r bonized fossils are by no m e a n s confined to such ancient r o c k s . T h e
Cretaceous and y o u n g e r f o r m a t i o n s of T e n n e s s e e contain plant leaves of
this type, and so do the ash beds at Florissant, C o l o r a d o , the shales at
G r e e n River, W y o m i n g , and the Latah f o r m a t i o n s near S p o k a n e , W a s h ington. M o r e c o m m o n l y , h o w e v e r , C e n o z o i c plants exist as impressions.

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FOSSILS FOR A M A T E U R S

The original plant material of this fern has been reduced to a carbon film. This is
typical of plant fossils found near coal seams. Pennsylvanian period; Terre Haute,
Indiana.

Soft-bodied animals, such as this worm, are rarely preserved except as a carbon film.
Parts of this Silurian annelid, Lecthyalus gregarius, found near Chicago, are still attached to the mold in the limestone.

THE N A T U R E OF FOSSILS

27

These ants were trapped in resin which hardened into amber over the last 40 million
years. They are thin, carbonized films with hollow centers. Poland.

Casts and Molds

An organism, such as a shell, is buried in sediment, such as the ooze on
the b o t t o m of a sea. W a t e r later dissolves the shell, leaving a hollow in
the hardening sediment. T h e sediment b e c o m e s r o c k enclosing a cavity
that exactly preserves the external pattern and shape of the shell. T h i s
is a mold.
Sometimes a mold b e c o m e s filled with sediment or o t h e r mineral m a t t e r ,
producing an exact duplicate of the external pattern and shape of the
shell. T h i s is a cast f r o m the mold. T h e p s e u d o m o r p h s discussed under
petrifaction are casts. T h e petrified wood p s e u d o m o r p h s f o u n d in w e s t e r n
lava flows are f o r this reason c o m m o n l y called limb casts.
D i n o s a u r and bird footprints are molds in the sediments that yielded
to their footsteps long ago and then hardened. A r o c k layer that f o r m e d
above and filled them would, w h e n pried apart f r o m the lower r o c k ,
show a cast of the footprint.
In some Paleozoic r o c k s , n o t a b l y the Silurian N i a g a r a n dolomites in
the Middle W e s t , unusual double molds are encountered in fossils of
brachiopods, crinoids, snails, and trilobites. W h e n a slab is b r o k e n open,
a mold is found that shows the external details of the creature. Rattling

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FOSSILS FOR AMATEURS

Mold of a trilobite, Calymene niagarensis, in dolomite of Silurian age. This mold was
empty; no steinkern was found inside. Racine, Wisconsin.

This odd fossil is scarcely recognizable as a cup coral. This is a mold of the top of
the coral, like a piece of clay pressed into the hollow top and then removed.

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29

Tracks of the Pennsylvanian amphibian found by Drs. Dick Patterson and Dwayne
Stone of Marietta College. (Photo by Betty Crawford)

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FOSSILS FOR A M A T E U R S

Many early Paleozoic snails, such as this one, are found only as internal molds.
Such a snail may have been dull on the outside, or it may have been highly ornamented, but this fossil represented only the living chamber within the shell. Devonian;
Michigan. (Photo Michigan Conservation Department)

External mold of a straight cephalopod. Silurian; Illinois.

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31

A drawing of Glycymeris, a clam from the Miocene of Florida. At left is a shell in

perfect preservation, a right a steinkern of a similar shell. A steinkern is a cast of
the interior of the shell. (Drawing by Betty Crawford)

inside the mold is a loose fossil that has a superficial r e s e m b l a n c e to the

mold in the rock. T h i s is an internal m o l d , a mold of the inside of the
shell, or it can be thought of as a cast of the inside of the shell. P a l e o n t o l ogists refer to these double-duty fossils by their G e r m a n n a m e , steinkerns
("stone kernels").
S u c h double molds are f o r m e d by an e l a b o r a t e m a n e u v e r of n a t u r e .
A clam, f o r example, is buried and b e c o m e s filled with mud. If the shell
is dissolved a w a y , an external mold would be left. Inside it would be
the internal mold of m u d , taking the place of the b o d y of the clam and
faithfully reflecting the detail of the inside of the shell, just as the e x ternal mold reflects the quite different detail of the outside of the shell.
S u c h a pair of molds is f a r more useful than an external mold alone,
because it shows not only external details, b u t such i m p o r t a n t things
as muscle a t t a c h m e n t s in m o l l u s k s , b o d y - c a v i t y shape and size in crinoids,
and thickness of the h o r n y e x o s k e l e t o n in trilobites.
T h e r e m a r k a b l e s o f t - b o d i e d animals f o u n d near C h i c a g o and discussed
in C h a p t e r 1 are casts and molds. Insects in a m b e r are m o l d s ; the delicate
insects long ago turned to dust and g a s , leaving b e h i n d a cavity lined
with carbon so detailed that even the smallest parts of the a n t e n n a e are
visible. A few dinosaurs and fish h a v e b e e n f o u n d with the b o n e s in
place and an impression in the shale of the fleshy b o d y of the animal
itself. Evidently the mud b e c a m e hard e n o u g h b e f o r e the tissues decayed
to hold the impression m a d e by the b u l k y b o d y as it s a n k in the ooze.
To a like circumstance we owe preservation of fine detail of the bodies

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FOSSILS FOR A M A T E U R S

A steinkern, or internal mold of Calymene. Silurian period; Lemont, Illinois.

of the large m a r i n e ichthyosaurs in the Jurassic rocks at H o l z m a d e n , G e r m a n y . E v e n the soft fleshy paddles of the reptiles made their m a r k in
the rock.
Archaeopteryx, a Jurassic link b e t w e e n reptile and bird, had never been
recognized as a bird until specimens c a m e to light in the limestone quarries n e a r Eichstatt, G e r m a n y . T h e b o n e s were in place on the slabs, and
so were distinct impressions (molds) of the f e a t h e r s , w i n g s , and tail of
this early toothed bird.

M I S C E L L A N E O U S FOSSIL F O R M S
Fossils include n o t only the r e m a i n s of actual living creatures but all
those bits and pieces that s h o w evidence of the existence of such creatures.
A m o n g these miscellaneous f o r m s are trace fossils, b o r i n g s , and coprolites.
O t h e r fossil f o r m s are organic structures composed of algae or bacteria.

THE N A T U R E OF FOSSILS

33

Trace Fossils
T h e s e include trails and b u r r o w s and o t h e r fossil evidence of the activities of once-living creatures. A tidal m u d flat at low tide is an amazing
sight, covered with i n n u m e r a b l e trails left by clams, c r a b s , and w o r m s
and speckled with holes that are the tops of b u r r o w s of a multitude of
worms and clams. Should this area dry sufficiently to harden, the n e x t
tide might not destroy these m a r k i n g s but instead gently cover them
with a layer of mud. W h e n turned into rock and split apart, these layers
would reveal the trails and b u r r o w s of extinct o r g a n i s m s . S o m e of the
oldest k n o w n fossils are b u r r o w s and trails, evidence that s o m e t h i n g
crawled in P r e - C a m b r i a n seas but never was preserved as a fossil.
Occasionally the nature of such a trail b e c o m e s clear through the l u c k y
discovery of its fossilized creator, too. Jurassic h o r s e s h o e c r a b s have b e e n
found in G e r m a n y in this situation at the end of their last crawl.
In the early days of paleontology, ridgelike and tubelike swellings in
rocks that showed definite indication of having b e e n f o r m e d by s o m e thing living were classified as marine algae. B e c a u s e m a n y showed definite

A variety of trails, burrows, and resting places are the only

sandstone.

fossils in this

thin

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FOSSILS FOR A M A T E U R S

b r a n c h i n g , this m a r i n e - a l g a e theory gained support. M a n y generic names

still end in -phycus, such as Arthrophycus or Dolatophycus, signifying
algal origin. In the s a m e w a y , such n a m e s as Fucoides, Algacites, and
Chondrites cling to remains not n o w believed to have any connection
with the plant k i n g d o m .
G r a d u a l l y these trace fossils b e c a m e accepted as b u r r o w s and trails
a f t e r their r e s e m b l a n c e to those made by modern w o r m s and pelecypods
w a s noticed. M a n y are believed to be s u b s u r f a c e b u r r o w s that filled
w i t h a different sediment. T h i s sediment n o w appears in relief on the
s u r f a c e of a slab. A thin, buried layer of sediment of different texture
o f t e n created a plane of w e a k n e s s that offered an easy path f o r the burrowing creatures. It also offered an easy parting plane w h e n the rock
w a s split some millions of years later by a fossil collector.
A single individual m a y have made a series of quite different markings
in the sea b o t t o m , depending on w h e t h e r it was crawling, running, feeding, or b u r r o w i n g . T h u s it is difficult to relate these problematical fossils
to their creator. T h e s y s t e m proposed by A d o l f Seilacher f o r classification
of these fossils seems to be the m o s t reasonable. He has grouped trace
fossils by their ecological similarity w h e t h e r their proprietors were similar
or not. A tubelike b u r r o w made by a trilobite is similar to one made by
a w o r m . T h e y c a n n o t be told apart unless a very dead w o r m or trilobite
is f o u n d at the end of one. So this s y s t e m has merit. His five basic groups
are:
1. D w e l l i n g b u r r o w s : T u n n e l s m a d e as living quarters, usually at right
angles to the bedding of the l a y e r s , originally opening out on the
surface.
2. Feeding b u r r o w s : T u n n e l s y s t e m s , originally dug below the surface,
e x c a v a t e d by sediment-eaters while searching f o r food.
3. Feeding trails: T u n n e l s and b a n d s that are e x t r e m e l y winding and very
n u m e r o u s , p r o b a b l y m a d e on the s u r f a c e , rarely crossing each other,
made by o r g a n i s m s also in pursuit of food or on their way somewhere.
4. R e s t i n g trails: Isolated impressions with a vague outline of their producer, p r o b a b l y representing resting spots or n a p sites.
5. C r a w l i n g trails: S h o w i n g variable direction and imprints of legs, usually made on the s u r f a c e .

Borings
B o r e d holes are quite c o m m o n , particularly in shells, both modern and
fossil. S o m e are the w o r k of predatory snails that rasp a tapering hole
through the shell to get at the delicate meal inside. Borings are made in

THE NATURE OF FOSSILS

35

These California snails show neat holes bored by a cannibalistic cousin to reach the
meal inside. Pleistocene.

The clam that bored into this ancient Florida coral became a fossil while resting in its
burrow. Miocene; Tampa, Florida.

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FOSSILS FOR A M A T E U R S

The tube inside this silicified Miocene coral from Florida was bored into the living
coral by a clam similar to the teredo.

living and dead shells (also corals and even solid rock) by b a r n a c l e s ,
w h i c h leave behind a characteristic sac-shaped hole, o f t e n very small.
M o d e r n shells w o r k e d over by barnacles are c o m m o n on Florida beaches.
W o r m s leave tiny, n a r r o w tubular borings that m a y be curved or b r a n c h -

Coal is not often thought of as a source of recognizable fossils. This Eocene fish was
found in a coal seam near Frankfurt, Germany.

THE N A T U R E O F FOSSILS

37

ing. Small sponges have left similar b o r i n g s , o f t e n radiating f r o m s o m e

central point. B r y o z o a n s and boring corals leave tiny tubelike h o l e s , again
most c o m m o n l y in shells.
Everyone is familiar with teredo w o o d , w h i c h has b e c o m e the official
state rock of N o r t h D a k o t a . T h e teredo (or s h i p w o r m ) is just as active
today as it has b e e n ever since it first made its a p p e a r a n c e in the fossil
record in the Jurassic period. T h e teredo is not a w o r m but a clam turned
lumberjack. It is a m e m b e r of the pelecypod (clam) suborder Adesmacea,
comprising clams that bore. T h e teredo drills into w o o d , quickly riddling
unprotected wooden piling, d o c k s , and ship hulls. T e r e d o - b o r e d logs are
not u n c o m m o n in petrified w o o d , and occasionally a piece is f o u n d with
the teredo still in place, its b u r r o w , like itself, turned to solid agate.

Coprolites
Coprolites are fossil e x c r e m e n t of a n y t h i n g f r o m a mighty dinosaur to a
fish or w o r m . Fish and shark coprolites are of particular interest b e c a u s e
they often preserve tiny scales and teeth that reveal w h a t the predator
ate and w h a t lived in the area where it dined. S u c h teeth and scales s o m e times represent fish never found as fossils elsewhere.

A fish coprolite nearly filling a concretion. Small bones, scales, and teeth from past
meals are sometimes found in coprolites. Pennsylvanian; Braidwood, Illinois.

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Such unmistakable coprolites of mammal origin are rare, but are found in a W a s h ington locality.

Organic Structures
P r e - C a m b r i a n swellings that have a layered appearance like a giant biscuit
apparently were f o r m e d by algae that removed c a r b o n dioxide f r o m limerich w a t e r , causing precipitation of calcium c a r b o n a t e . T h e vast iron deposits of M i n n e s o t a are believed to o w e their origin to bacteria that took
iron out of solution in the w a t e r and carried it to the b o t t o m as an oxide
w h e n they died. For this r e a s o n , these iron-rich sedimentary layers may
be considered a gigantic fossil g r a v e y a r d .