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Incoming links: What is a Fossil? by the National Park Service
Fossil Created 2026-10-13 Updated 2026-11-05
A fossil is preserved evidence of past life in a geological context. A body fossil retains evidence of an organism's body, such as a tooth, bone or leaf; a trace fossil, such as a footprint or burrow, records activity. Complete replacement by minerals is not required for something to be a fossil.[ref]
What is a Fossil? by the National Park Service. Introduction and Definition
Fossilization can preserve different kinds of information. Permineralization fills spaces in biological material with minerals, while an impression may retain only external shape. These pathways help explain why the fossil record samples some anatomy characters much better than others, and why a transitional fossil is assessed through a combination of characters rather than overall resemblance.