Zeitschrift für Phylogenetik und Evolutionsbiologie

Paleontology - An over review

Abstract

Doolittle

Paleontology, also spelled palaeontology or palæontology (/�?peɪli�?n�?t�?l�?d�?i, �?pæli-, -�?n-/), is that the scientific study of life that existed before , and sometimes including, the beginning of the Holocene (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossils to classify organisms and study interactions with one another and their environments (their paleoecology). Paleontological observations are documented as far back because the 5th century BCE. The science became established within the 18th century as a results of Georges Cuvier's work on anatomy , and developed rapidly within the 19th century. The term itself originates from Greek παλαι�?ς, palaios, "old, ancient", �?ν, on (gen. ontos), "being, creature", and λ�?γος, logos, "speech, thought, study".