PALEOHER MAGAZINE Volume-1, 2024

Fossils
In Time and Space
Prof. Vijay Sathe
Deccan College, Pune

We are told by our teachers that the age of earth runs At the outset, how do we estimate time in geological
past?
into millions of years!
What are the established time periods, era and epochs
How to count these years? that divide different stages of life in the slice of time?

What is the evidence to prove the prehistoric life on

It takes all the ten fingers of your
earth?
hands to count for about four
thousand million times to calculate How to count these years?
the time elapsed since the life
emerged for the first time on our Answers to most of these questions are coded in
planet!
one word, i.e. 'FOSSIL'.
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 What is a fossil?
The term has a Latin origin, “fossilis” which defines
“any remains or imprint of a plant or animal that has been preserved in
the earth's crust since some past geologic or prehistoric time”.

Be it a fossilised bone or poop or frozen mammoths of Siberia, the foot

prints of dinosaurs or even the impressions of prehistoric plants Scientists have long observed that the coastlines of Africa and South
preserved in rocks, these diverse types of fossils are direct evidence of America are similar, and in fact, if this jigsaw puzzle if pieced together,
their existence in the past. we find the whole world looking like a mass of several amorphous pieces
of land pulled away from each other. If these pieces of land are 'pieced
together' on paper, they would resemble the ancient supercontinent
known as Pangaea. Several scientists have searched for any logical and
scientific meaning behind such fragmentation of land mass and in 1912;
it was Alfred Wegener (1912) who proposed the theory of continental
drift. Therefore don't get surprised to find taxon like a land reptile called
Lystrosaurus which lived in Africa, Antarctica and India one and the same
time! Glossopteris, fossil ferns, which were found in all the southern
continents indicate that all the continents were once joined, like
erstwhile neighbours!

What an irony that life is a subject of study but

death and burial supply all the data!

The prehistoric life was a base for the future prospects of survival, the
India offers an excellent opportunity to see the relics of prehistoric
proven fact since times immemorial. Wherever this evidence is recorded
animals buried in the ancient deposits. Dinosaurs have roamed the Indian
in the earth's surface, presents a unique opportunity to understand the
soil is evident from several localities which report their nesting
temporal and special spread of life buried in various strata across the
behaviour, clutches of eggs, a wide range of massive bones; contemporary
length and breadth of globe. No other discipline can be as much
plant life being represented by long and thick tree trunks, leaf
unraveling as palaeontology to address the origins of life with impeccable
impressions, fossil wooden logs; marine life with a variety of shells,
certainty! What has lived and perished leaves behind an array of physical
shells as large as the size of a rhinoceros, members of star fish family;
evidence which is like a trailer of past life, similar to an overnight
terrestrial animal world with early ancestors of pachyderms, equines,
experience of being in a Natural History Museum like the well-known
rhinos, hippos, camels, giraffe, tortoise, saber tooth large cats, ostriches
Hollywood movie, “A Night in the Museum” part I and II ! Interestingly
etc. that roamed the North west India (stretching from Panjab of Pakistan
we find some of them sharing their relationships with those found in
to Himachal Pradesh and beyond in the Siwalik hills) until as recent as
different continents at the same time! The separation of their 'loved
just two million years ago!
ones' and the changing shapes of the world map are two closely related
This panorama of life through ages represents India's rich natural
phenomena that hold keys to the global distribution of animals in
heritage, a priceless legacy and a great lesson in Life and Earth Sciences.
prehistoric times.

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 The animal figures painted/ engraved or etched on the walls and roofs of caves and the
rock shelters are the 'bone-less' evidence of prehistoric fauna which is a continuum of
fossil record, though documented by prehistoric man and rightly called the “Painted
fossil record”. The fabled UNESCO World Heritage site of Bhimbetka in Central India is a
tall evidence of the existence of diverse prehistoric mammals whose paintings are a
testimony to the man-animal interaction in prehistory.

These are the significant signatures inscribed in the history of life, needing the world
attention for education and environmental awareness. There are several such localities
spread along the length and breadth of India that have yielded a rich fossil record ranging
in age from several hundred thousand to billion years. In recognition to this treasure
trove of fossil heritage, the Government of India has established several Fossil Parks that
have become the 'safe residences' of the buried prehistoric animals and plants which
stand as a tall testimony to the existence of prehistoric abode for animals that were
silenced by the vagaries or caprice of nature.

Fossil Parks are part of the National Geological monuments and today's the star
attraction from the geo-tourism perspective. The Fossil Parks offer detailed history of
the landscape, the evidence of life found, its significance in the context of evolution and
dispersal. One gets to know the type of fauna, its life history and position in the history
of animal kingdom. Most of these fossil sites were discovered during colonial times by
British army engineers, geologists, surgeons and natural scientists, followed by Indian
team of scientists during the past more than seven decades. The seven of the existing
Fossil Parks highlight the remains of large mammals (Saketi, District Sirmeur,
Himanchal Pradesh), Stromatalites (impression of one of the earliest forms of life on
earth, blue-green algae, Districts of Chittorgarh and Udaipur, Rajasthan),

Asias largest Marine fossil park at Mahendragarh, Districts of Sarguja, Chhattisgarh,

petrified wood (Akal, District Jaisalmer, Rajasthan), 100 million years old petrified tree
trunks (Sattanur, District Perambalur, Tamil Nadu), and fossil trees (Tiruvakkarai,
District Villupuram, Tamil Nadu). These Parks are under complete protection under the
Govt. Act of Geological Monuments. The dinosaur fossil park at Balasinor (District
Kheda, Gujarat) is a very recent addition to these existing parks highlighting the relics
of dinosaurs discovered locally. This region has emerged as the richest nesting sites and
yielded highest number of dinosaurian eggs belonging to the Late Cretaceous period. At
least thirteen species of dinosaurs lived here for more than hundred million years until
sixty-five million years of which Rajasaurus narmadaensis, and other two are the
heroes of Rayioli. It is a Fossil wood of variety of plants and trees around Jaisalmer (part
of the Great Thar desert of India) and marine fauna in Chhattisgarh would have been
unacceptable but for the prehistoric reality that we are able to understand the dynamics
and marvels of nature in the four and a half billion year's history of earth, and life that
emerged following the appearance of primordial biochemicals!
Source:Wikipedia

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