ACT. 90: FIGURING OUT FOSSILS

Challenge What can fossils tell you about organisms that lived in the past?

Key Vocabulary: Fossil Geologic Timescale

GETTING STARTED

What’s a fossil? Any trace of life preserved in a rock

What can fossils tell us?

What can’t fossils tell us?

Trace vs. Body Fossils

TRACE FOSSILS BODY FOSSILS Trace fossils are

fossilized evidence that an organism was there

Examples:

Fossilized remains of bodies

Examples:

TRACE VS. BODY FOSSILS

Trace Fossil Evidence of the

organism left behind.

Footprint, Bite mark, imprint ,

coprolite, burrows

Body Fossil Part of the actual

organism. Bone, Tooth, Shell

PROCEDURE

Your group will have 3 minutes to observe, sketch, and comment on 8 different fossils.

1) Sketch the fossil 2) Predict if you think the fossil is

Old, Medium, New (Write O, M, N) 3) Decide whether the fossil is a

Trace or Body fossil (Write B or T)