Portal:Paleontology/Intro

Paleontology is the study of the forms of life existing in prehistoric times, chiefly by studying the fossils of plants, animals, and other organisms. Secular paleontology is based on uniformitarian geology, which holds that there has been no Biblical flood, but instead it is believed the layers of stata represent vast geologic ages. Based on this assumption, paleontologists examine and characterized fossils. Within paleontology, there are branches are areas of specializations based on the particular type of organism. The study of prehistoric humans is known as Paleoanthropology, animal paleontology is Paleozoology, and the branch which studies ancient plants is called Paleobotany.