Early Fossil Discovery

The geological column, the layers of rock in which fossils are found can form in a matter of days under drastic circumstances. The eruption of a volcano can cause the forming of geological columns at a rapid pace, this process could petrify a tree trunk and place it through several layers of columns giving the appearance that the tree stretched across many time periods. Another drastic circumstance would be a great flood. Flood waters would deposit layers of rock and mud and could create hydraulic pressure compressing these layers into geological columns. This process could create multiple time layers in a short period of time. The first scientifically recorded fossil was found in the 1820’s by a British scientist. Thinking he had a new discovery of creatures, by the bone records, the scientists of that day came up with a new name for the fossils called Dinosaur Fossils. Fossils though had been collected by people for thousands of years, these fossils were looked at as Dragon bones, but in 1841, scientists decided these Dragon bones should be changed to the new name Dinosaur fossils. A fossil is the remains of plants and animals that have been caught in a drastic circumstance and died, and under great pressure their remains become fossilized. The word Dinosaur is taken from Greek words that mean Terrible Lizard. They lived in great number in the beginning of Earth’s history.