Question

How do fossils reveal the history of life on earth?

Answer 1

Hint: Fossils are the geological remains and scientific traces of organisms in the past excavated from the soil. The individual study of fossils is crucial as fossils or skeletons have the information about the life of an organism as well as its environment.

Complete answer:
-Life originated on earth around a million years ago. Earlier only cellular forms were found but after a few time evolution took place in the diversity of organisms that we see today. Human species is the most advanced species. It is found that humans have evolved from chimpanzees as the similarity is found in the DNA tracing of these organisms.
-Different methods like fossil excavation and their study, radioactive study etc helps in knowing the history of life on earth.
-Fossils are termed as geographical and scientific organism traces in the past formed from the soil. Fossils are the strongest and the direct evidence of human evolution. Most of the fossils of the human ancestors have been found from Africa which shows that humans originated in Africa and migrated from there to different parts of the world.
-The study of fossils is called Palaenotology. It tells about the history of life on Earth when the species were lost. The study of fossils helps in the evolution formation and previous structure of extinct plants, animals, fungi and bacteria for the viewing of paleontological evidence from the prints on the deposited rock strata where remains of the species are produced.
-It is found that humans belong to class Mammalia where mammary glands are found and all the other traits of vertebrates and chordates are also found. Shrews were the first mammal-like creatures. Tree shrew is one of the primitive ancestors of primates which have eyes with cones. Man , monkey and apes belong to the order primates. It is believed that humans came from apes but in reality humans and apes have common ancestors.
-The common ancestor was Dryopithecus, the same as ape. This common ancestor gives the apes and humans which are developed by their ways.

Note: The most useful fossils for correlation are the shelly fishes such as lamp shells or trilobites.
-In the Earth’s layer containing sedimentary rocks, many fossils are seen.
-Sedimentary rocks are formed of a single flat layer called strata.
-Bones, teeth do not decompose like fleshy parts because the shielded layers of sediments surround them.