What does Palaeontology mean?

Definitions for Palaeontology
palaeon·tol·o·gy

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Palaeontology.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. paleontology, palaeontology, fossilologynoun

    the earth science that studies fossil organisms and related remains

Wikipedia

  1. palaeontology

    Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossils to classify organisms and study their interactions with each other and their environments (their paleoecology). Paleontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century BC. The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuvier's work on comparative anatomy, and developed rapidly in the 19th century. The term has been used since 1822 formed from Greek παλαιός ('palaios', "old, ancient"), ὄν ('on', (gen. 'ontos'), "being, creature"), and λόγος ('logos', "speech, thought, study").Paleontology lies on the border between biology and geology, but differs from archaeology in that it excludes the study of anatomically modern humans. It now uses techniques drawn from a wide range of sciences, including biochemistry, mathematics, and engineering. Use of all these techniques has enabled paleontologists to discover much of the evolutionary history of life, almost all the way back to when Earth became capable of supporting life, nearly 4 billion years ago. As knowledge has increased, paleontology has developed specialised sub-divisions, some of which focus on different types of fossil organisms while others study ecology and environmental history, such as ancient climates. Body fossils and trace fossils are the principal types of evidence about ancient life, and geochemical evidence has helped to decipher the evolution of life before there were organisms large enough to leave body fossils. Estimating the dates of these remains is essential but difficult: sometimes adjacent rock layers allow radiometric dating, which provides absolute dates that are accurate to within 0.5%, but more often paleontologists have to rely on relative dating by solving the "jigsaw puzzles" of biostratigraphy (arrangement of rock layers from youngest to oldest). Classifying ancient organisms is also difficult, as many do not fit well into the Linnaean taxonomy classifying living organisms, and paleontologists more often use cladistics to draw up evolutionary "family trees". The final quarter of the 20th century saw the development of molecular phylogenetics, which investigates how closely organisms are related by measuring the similarity of the DNA in their genomes. Molecular phylogenetics has also been used to estimate the dates when species diverged, but there is controversy about the reliability of the molecular clock on which such estimates depend.

ChatGPT

  1. palaeontology

    Palaeontology is the scientific study of the history of life on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks, burrows, cast-off parts, fossilized feces, and chemical residues. It provides information about the evolution of organisms, their interactions with each other and their environments, and the changes to Earth's climate and geography over time.

Wikidata

  1. Palaeontology

    Palaeontology is one of the two scientific journals of the Palaeontological Association. It was established in 1957 and is published on behalf of the Association by Wiley-Blackwell. The editor-in-chief is S. Stouge. Palaeontology publishes articles on a range of palaeontological topics, including taphonomy, systematics, and biostratigraphy. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2011 impact factor of 1.570, ranking it 14th out of 49 journals in the category "Paleontology".

How to pronounce Palaeontology?

How to say Palaeontology in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Palaeontology in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Palaeontology in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Popularity rank by frequency of use

Palaeontology#10000#82434#100000

Translations for Palaeontology

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

Get even more translations for Palaeontology »

Translation

Find a translation for the Palaeontology definition in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Word of the Day

Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?

Please enter your email address:


Citation

Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"Palaeontology." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Palaeontology>.

Discuss these Palaeontology definitions with the community:

0 Comments

    Are we missing a good definition for Palaeontology? Don't keep it to yourself...

    Image or illustration of

    Palaeontology

    Credit »

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Chrome

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Firefox

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Browse Definitions.net

    Quiz

    Are you a words master?

    »
    one whose prevailing mental imagery takes the form of inner feelings of action
    A inexpiable
    B tenebrous
    C motile
    D askant

    Nearby & related entries:

    Alternative searches for Palaeontology: