#fossils

But just in proportion as this process of extermination has acted on an enormous scale, so must the number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed, be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and serious objection which can be urged against the theory. The explanation lies, as I believe, in the extreme imperfection of the geological record. ↗

— Charles Darwin

#conclusion-before-evidence #darwinism #evolution #fossil-record #fossils

If death petrifies you, do something to ensure your likeness will survive in more than just photographs. Drown yourself in a swamp. ↗

— Bauvard

#fossils #funny #humor #death

The idea that one can go to the fossil record and expect to empirically recover an ancestor-descendant sequence, be it of species, genera, families, or whatever, has been, and continues to be, a pernicious illusion. ↗

— Gareth J. Nelson

#darwin #darwinism #evolution #fossil-record #fossils

We are concerned that, in a few years time, this place of discovery, with its wealth of human fossils, the like of which can be found nowhere else in the world, could be completely destroyed. ↗

— Richard Leakey

#concerned #could #destroyed #discovery #else

Through the study of fossils I had already been initiated into the mysteries of prehistoric creations. ↗

— Pierre Loti

#been #creations #fossils #had #i

The sand stones had fragments of charcoal on some surfaces but found no recognisable fossils. ↗

— George Mercer Dawson

#fossils #found #fragments #had #recognisable

I can't think of any other region in the world which is such a vast source of fossils. ↗

— Richard Leakey

#fossils #i #other #region #source

To investigate the history of man's development, the most important finds are, of course, hominid fossils. ↗

— Richard Leakey

#development #finds #fossils #history #hominid

When the first fossils began to be found in eastern Africa, in the late 1950s, I thought, what a wonderful marriage this was, biology and anthropology. I was around 16 years old when I made this particular choice of academic pursuit. ↗

— Donald Johanson

#africa #anthropology #around #began #biology

Oaths are the fossils of piety. ↗

— George Santayana

#oaths #piety