Fossils are found in layers of rocks all over earth. Geologists study rocks and minerals, paleontologists study fossils buried in different layers of rocks on earth. Anatomy refers to basic body parts, like teeth, spines, leaf prints or shells of once-living organisms or even the marks left behind like a dinosaur's footprint. Fossils are a record of the evoloution of life through geologic time. Paleontology, the study of fossils, has been invaluable in reconstructing prehistoric envrionments, identifying animals and plants living millions of years ago, and tracing the evoloution of living things.
Fossils also make up a major contribution to the economy of modern Texas.
The Texas of today is the result of about six hundred million years of geologic history. Paleontologists are scientists able to reconstruct earth history by examining fossils found in layers of rocks from different periods of geologic history. It has been estimated there about about half a million different types of fossil remains in Texas. A look at the fossil record of Texas shows clearly the Texas of the past differs radically from the Texas of the present. Where people live and work, corals and trilobites once lived in huge seas.