Paleontology is the science which treats fossils as evidence of ancient life.
Paleontological research has been a hallmark of the Science Museum of Minnesota since its founding in 1907. The Curator of Paleontology position has been held by Arthur Coggeshal, Louis Powell, and since 1959, Bruce Erickson . Erickson established the modern paleontology research program and has revived its series of scientific publications , Scientific Publications of the Science Museum of Minnesota and Monographs of the Science Museum of Minnesota . Research directions in paleontology continue to be guided by Erickson who is joined by research associates and Director of the Paleontology Program, Andy Redline . The Paleontology Department is responsible for providing a repository for representative Minnesota fossils and, with the collections manager, jointly oversees the paleontology collections .