Earth Sciences 1083F/G Lecture Notes - James Ussher, Principle Of Faunal Succession, Robert Hooke
24 Nov 2012
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Document Summary
Life on planet earth notes recorded human history goes back 5000 years ago. People used to be really puzzled as to what fossils were, how they came about, and where they were. Dragons are the work of the earliest paleontologists, thought dinosaurs were dragons. Always stuff missing from fossils (scraps - fill in the gaps) Used their imagination and past experience to fill the gaps. Very common until scientific method was developed where you look at what you"ve got and go further but not too far. No coincidence that we have dragon myths in every culture across continents. Ancient greeks came up with a sophisticated way (founders of philosophy) of explain- ing fossils. Used to be a strong tie between mystical and physical. Elephant skull thought of as cyclops skull because of thousands to millions of years of erosion. Lots of fossils that we know what they are now but were puzzling before.
