fossilized remains
Prehistoric preserved specimens
Fossilized remains are the preserved traces of organisms from past geological ages, transformed into stone through mineral replacement over millions of years.
The phrase appears constantly in scientific and educational contexts: Fossilized remains of dinosaurs were discovered in Montana.
Informally, fossilized describes anything outdated or rigidly unchanging: fossilized attitudes, fossilized bureaucracy.
- trilobiteExtinct segmented marine arthropod
- carbonizationConversion to char
- ammoniteExtinct spiral-shelled cephalopod
- Burgess ShaleCambrian lagerstätte in Canada
- extinctNo longer existing
sedimentation · ice age · prehistoric · Cambrian explosion · paleontology · natural history · petrified wood · coprolite · tar pit · unearthed · radiometric dating · deep time · extinct species · missing link · dig · excavation · skull · preserved
- paleontologydinosaurs, paleontology, dinosaur bones, dinosaur fossils, fossils
- protective structuresexoskeleton, carapace, shell, cuticle, elytra
- macroevolutionmacroevolution, speciation, extinction, common descent, phylogeny
fossilized remainsliving tissue
Metabolically active cellular material
organic matter · soft tissue · living cells · mummified remains
fossilized remainsdecomposing matter