Introduction to Paleontology

Professor Biography
About Our Partner
Table of Contents
Course Scope
Lecture 1—History on a Geological Scale
Lecture 2—Life Cast in Ancient Stone
Lecture 3—Tools of the Paleontological Trade
Lecture 4—How Do You Fossilize Behavior?
Lecture 5—Taxonomy: The Order of Life
Lecture 6—Minerals and the Evolving Earth
Lecture 7—Fossil Timekeepers
Lecture 8—Fossils and the Shifting Crust
Lecture 9—Our Vast Troves of Microfossils
Lecture 10—Ocean Fire and the Origin of Life
Lecture 11—The Ancient Roots of Biodiversity
Lecture 12—Arthropod Rule on Planet Earth
Lecture 13—Devonian Death and the Spread of Forests
Lecture 14—Life’s Greatest Crisis: The Permian
Lecture 15—Life’s Slow Recovery after the Permian
Lecture 16—Dinosaur Interpretations and Spinosaurus
Lecture 17—Whales: Throwing Away Legs for the Sea
Lecture 18—Insects, Plants, and the Rise of Flower Power
Lecture 19—The Not-So-Humble Story of Grass
Lecture 20—Australia’s Megafauna: Komodo Dragons
Lecture 21—Mammoths, Mastodons, and the Quest to Clone
Lecture 22—The Little People of Flores
Lecture 23—The Neanderthal among Us
Lecture 24—Paleontology and the Future of Earth
Bibliography
Image Credits