Fossil Questions: Early History of Palaentology 600 BC - 1800 AD

Abstract

Print on Demand version available via http://www.linguaterraebooks.nl - Modern palaeontology is the earth-scientific specialism that investigates the nature and significance of fossils, that is, the study of the remains of once living organisms which have been preserved in earth’s crust. Palaeontology thus investigates the history of life on earth. It does so by applying biological and geological scientific concepts and knowledge. Before its establishment and rise to a fully-fledged scientific state, this special branch of geology passed through a long period of pre-modern development. This book deals with those generally slow and intermittently stagnant developments in the study of those strange ‘medals of Creation’, that is, the period of gestation of palaeontology as the prime study of ancient life.