Reviewed by Muhammad Awais (University of Swabi)
Taylor, P.D. 2025. Fossils: An Essential Guide. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. ($15.60 cloth / e-book with 40% PS discount.)
The book Fossils: An Essential Guide by Paul D. Taylor consists of thirteen chapters beginning with the fundamental basis of fossilization, plate tectonics, global climate over geological time scale, and different fossil groups. The author made an effort to address every facet of paleontology, including invertebrate and vertebrate fossils, microfossils, trace fossils, mammals, and plant fossils, etc. Among the fossils described are arthropods (trilobites, eurypterids, crustaceans, insects, and spiders); brachiopods, mollusks (gastropods, bivalves, nautiloids, ammonites, and belemnites); other invertebrates: sponges (chaetetids, stromatoporoids), corals (rugose, tabulate, scleractinians), bryozoans, graptolites, worms and conical tubes; echinoderms (crinoids, asteroids, ophiuroids, echinoids, and holothurians); fishes and amphibians; reptiles and birds; mammals; fossil plants (early land plants, lycopods, Carboniferous coal forests, gymnosperms, angiosperms, marine plants); microfossils (coccoliths, foraminiferans, radiolarians, diatoms, ostracods, conodonts, palynomorphs), and trace fossils (burrows, borings, scrapings, footprints, tracks, trails, and coprolites).
This book is quite fascinating, offering an impressive combination of topics that cover test mineralogy, morphology, size, classification, geological range, both extinct and living species, locomotion, ecological niches, and predator-prey relationships, among other characteristics of fossils. The author clearly outlines the occurrences, extinctions, and evolutionary changes of various fossil groups. The book illustrates the role of fossils in showcasing evolution over extensive periods, such as the Cretaceous and Cenozoic epochs represented by planktonic forams. Each chapter delves into diverse aspects of fossils, including the process of finding them, identifying pseudofossils, differentiating fake fossils, and discussing fossils in the context of evolution. These insights are not only interesting but also essential for spreading knowledge about fossils and raising awareness regarding natural fossils versus their synthetic (artificial) counterparts.
At the very beginning of the book, the author defined fossils and compared paleontologists and archeologists. The different types of fossils are discussed, as are the stages of their formation. The oldest fossils (stromatolites, foraminifera) found on Earth are discussed, and the division of geological time with respect to different microfossil distribution and abundance is described. Historical reasons are explained for naming some of the geological periods (e.g., Cambrian, Jurassic, etc.). Furthermore, plate tectonics is described and related to its impact on past life. The different plate tectonics processes (e.g., sea floor spreading, mountain building, sea-level rise and fall, sedimentary basins, etc.) are discussed. Global climate change over geological time is explained and supported by a chart showing the greenhouse and icehouse worlds.
The author discussed instruments for examining fossils, such as a hand lens, microscope, and scanning electron microscope. Since microfossils are typically quite small, sieve analysis is described to explain how to remove or acquire them from bulk samples. Carbon-14, potassium-argon, and uranium-lead methodologies for dating rocks and fossils are described. Only minerals older than 50,000 years may be dated using carbon-14 radiocarbon; for older rocks, dating methods like potassium-argon and uranium-lead use inorganic minerals like zircon and glauconite.
Fossils can be found in a variety of sedimentary rocks, such as ammonites in limestones, inside hard concretions in shales and mudstones, burrows in porous sandstone and soil, and both vertebrate and invertebrate footprints, tracks, and trails. Clastic sedimentary rocks can contain organic microfossils known as palynomorphs. In the Ordovician strata of the Ballantrae region in southern Scotland, ancient radiolarian oozes are preserved in the geological record as radiolarian cherts, often discovered in conjunction with pillow lavas.
The ecological niches of different fossils are described. Trilobites lived in salty sea water and brackish waters of river estuaries, but never crawled on land. Cephalopods are also marine animals and not reported from rivers and freshwater lakes. Brachiopods live in sea water. All echinoderms live in the sea and none has ever lived in freshwater. Rudist bivalves occupied the shallow warm waters of the Tethys Ocean. Chlorophyta (calcareous green algae) are common in shallow waters of the tropics. Eurypterids arthropods lived in different environments varying from deep to shallow marine, brackish and freshwater. Bivalve molluscs live in great numbers in the sea, but also live in freshwater lakes or rivers. However, bivalves of suborder Unionida are most commin in lakes and rivers. Gastropods are found on land, in freshwater lakes and rivers, and in the ocean from the intertidal zone to a depth of 10 km. While some are carnivores or feed on food particles suspended in the water or contained in the soil, others graze on algae and other plants. Sharks that are now extinct used to inhabit rivers and the ocean. Reptiles can live on land, in freshwater, or in the ocean. Diatoms live in well-lit environments; some inhabit the surface waters of seas or lakes, while others attach to marine plants, shells, rocks, and soil.
Geological applications based on fossils are discussed. For example, biostratigraphy (e.g., ~70 ammonite time-zones have been distinguished in the Jurassic of Europe; 30 graptoloid zones are identified in Ordovician of Australia), assigning relative ages to rocks using fossils (e.g., ammonites), stratigraphic correlation (e.g., ammonites, conodonts, foraminifera, trilobites), paleoenvironments (cephalopods, foraminifera, ostracods, trilobites), paleogeography (trilobites), and paleoecological interpretations. Due to their minute size and high abundance, microfossils are of great geological importance. Isotopic compositions of their tiny skeletons have improved understanding of climate change through geological time, and the greater chances of finding microfossils in drill cores as compared to macrofossils (e.g., ammonite) makes them especially useful. The abundance of coccoliths during the Cretaceous and Cenozoic led to the establishment of nannofossil zones. Coccolithophores are the predominant makers of calcium carbonate among all organism groups, underscoring their significance as calcium carbonate biomineralizers in the sequestration of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Significant amounts of siliceous silts are produced by diatoms. Trace fossils are commonly preserved in situ; thus, they are useful indicators of paleoenvironmental conditions for the site of deposition, e.g., ichnogenera Zoophycos and Paleodictyon generally represents deep-water paleoenvironments. The trace fossil Oichnus has been used as a proxy to investigate predation in the geological past.
The author described some examples of how fossils got their names. Some fossils are named after people, shape (appearance), color, or mountain ranges in which they are discovered. Fossils named after a person include Charnia masoni named after Roger Mason, Cloudina named after Preston Cloud (a pioneer in Precambrian paleontology), Chesapecten jeffersonius (a Miocene–Pliocene pectinid) name honoring Thomas Jefferson (founding father of USA); Leedsichthys (a Jurassic fish) honors Alfred Leeds (1847–1917), a farmer and fossil enthusiast. Brachiopods are called lampshells due to their superficial resemblance to Roman oil lamps. Siphonia tulipa (demosponges) refer to their tulip-like appearance. Crystal apples is a name given to Swedish examples of echinoderm Echinosphaerites. Fossils named due to color include the beetroot stone, a Middle Jurassic limestone in Gloucestershire, which took its name from the delicate pink colour of the Neosolenopora (a vestige of original red pigmentation of the red alga). Some fossils named after the mountains in which they were first discovered, for example, include Late Cretaceous species of crinoid (Uintacrinus socialis) from the Uinta Mountains (western USA). A reptile fossil of Mosasaurus in Late Cretaceous limestone found close to Maastricht (SE Netherlands) was named the Monster of Maastricht. Similarly, the seed fern Caytonia nathorstii was named for its occurrence at Cayton Bay south of Scarborough.
Some fossils are of cultural and historical interests. For example, the trilobite Calymene blumenbachii reported from Silurian Wenlock Limestone of Duley (English West Midlands) established the recognition of trilobites as arthropods. Bellerophon (a Cambrian–Triassic gastropod) was named after the Greek hero famous for slaying the monster Chimera. Arsinoitherium (a Paleocene–Oligocene mammal) was named after Queen Arsinoe, the wife of King Ptolemy. Eocene lizard Barbaturex morrisoni from Myanmar was named for Jim Morrison, singer with the rock band The Doors. Ammonite Hildoceras bifrons was named for the seventh century St Hilda, abbess of the monastery at Whitby in North Yorkshire where this ammonite is specially common. And jet (black, shiny fossilized wood) was greatly preferred by Queen Victoria throughout her long period of mourning the death of her husband Prince Albert.
The presence of fossils in different stratigraphic units (geological formations) is mentioned. For example, the oldest known stromatolites are reported in 3,430 million-year-old Strelley Pool Formation (Western Australia); embryo-like fossils (phosphatic replacement of soft tissues) in early–mid Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation (China); Ediacaran sponges from South China; Burgess Shale (Cambrian, British Columbia, Canada); arthropods in Chenjiang deposits of China; Elrathia (trilobite) in Cambrian Wheeler Formation of Utah; Cambrian sandstones with Skolithos trace fossil in NW Scotland; Agnostids (trilobites) for limestones in the Cambrian Alum Shale of Scandinavia; stromatoporoids (sponges) in the field in Swedish Island of Gotland; gastropods (Oriostoma discors) in Silurian Wenlock Limestone of the Welsh Borderlands; fish fossils in Devonian Old Red Sandstone; fenestrate bryozoans in the Carboniferous Limestone of Britain; plant fossils in Carboniferous Mazon Creek ironstone concretions (Illinois, USA); Trypanites (borings) in Mendip Hills of England; fusuline-rich Permian Cottonwood Limestone; reptile fossils (Odontochelys) in Triassic rocks of China; permineralized trees in the Late Triassic Chinle Formation and Purbeck Formation of Dorset; Marston Marble (ammonite graveyard of Early Jurassic deposit from Somerset); Stenopterygius in Early Jurassic Posidonia Shale of Holzmaden in southern Germany; jet from Early Jurassic marine deposits in the vicinity of Whitby in North Yorkshire (England) and in northern Spain; seed ferns in Middle Jurassic Coughton Formation of North Yorkshire; Teinolophos (monotreme mammals) in Early Cretaceous rocks of Victoria (Australia); dinosaur eggs (Protoceratops) in Late Cretaceous rocks of the Gobi Desert (Mongolia); inoceramid bivalves in Late Cretaceous Chalk Formation; reptile fossil Archelon in the Late Cretaceous Pierre Shale of South Dakota (USA); sponges in Cretaceous Chalk of Europe; Thalassinoides (burrow) in Cretaceous chalk; impressions of seagrass leaves on the undersides of encrusting bryozoans in the Late Cretaceous limestones (Maastricht, Netherlands); Triceratops (dinosaur) in the Hell Creek Formation (Montana, USA); Kumimanu fordycei (penguin bird) in the Late Paleocene of New Zealand; Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon (bat fossil) from Eocene oil shales of Messel near Darmstadt, Germany; Eocene lizard Barbaturex morrisoni from Myanmar; fishes in fine-grained limestones in Monte Bolca (near Verona, Italy); frog fossil (Pelophylax pueyoi) in Miocene laminated lake mudstones (Libros, NE Spain); fossil flora and birds in Eocene London Clay (England); Thylacoleo (marsupial) in Miocene–Pleistocene rocks of Australia; Mammuthus subplanifrons (mammoth) from South Africa; bryozoan colonies in Oligocene Ototara Limestone (Oamaru, New Zealand); Neptunea angulate (gastropod) and fossil ear bone of a whale in Plio–Pleistocene Red Crag Formation; ichnogenus Daimonelix (aka Devil's corkscrew) in Oligocene–Miocene deposits of South Dakota (USA), and coprolites from Plio–Pleistocene deposits near Ipswich (Coprolite Street).
The author discussed different events (e.g., Great oxidation and mass extinction events) throughout the book. In chapter 1, there is a chart showing different mass extinction events, production of oceanic crust and sea level fluctuations from the Cambrian through Neogene. In the Archean, oxygen in the atmosphere was very limited. The emergence of atmospheric oxygen ensued from photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). The atmospheric oxygen evolution is examined in relation to unique and economically important Banded Iron Formations (BIFs), finally elucidating the Great Oxidation Event. During the Cambrian period, fossils were neither abundant nor diversified, and there was a sudden emergence of fossils from multiple phyla, a phenomenon known as the ‘Cambrian Explosion.’ Various Cambrian fossils, such as arthropods, sponges, brachiopods, etc. are mentioned. Similarly, burrows and trails also showed significant increase in quantity and diversity during the Cambrian period. In the Cambrian period, grazing organisms flourished and eventually obliterated the microbial mats. The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction is discussed, with coverage of the Deccan Traps in India. The End–Cretaceous mass extinction event was caused by a catastrophic asteroid impact. Ammonites thrived in the oceans for 135 million years before becoming extinct 66 million years ago, coinciding with the extinction of dinosaurs and several other species of animals and plants. Likewise, belemnites became extinct during the End–Cretaceous period.
Diverse organisms utilize different minerals (such as aragonite and calcite) to form their skeletons. Organisms with aragonitic shells (ammonites, belemnites phragmocones, bivalves, gastropods, scleractinian corals) are more soluble and, thus, less frequently preserved in the geological record. These fossils are retained in the geological record as molds or steinkerns, or modified by diagenesis (e.g., recrystallization). On the contrary, fossils with calcite skeletons, such as rugose and tabulate corals, are generally well-preserved in the geological record. The diagenetic processes that preserved fossils in the rock archives include calcification, phosphatization, pyrite permineralization, and silicification. Diagenetic processes such as calcification and silicification form rocks like stromatolites and chert. Organo-sedimentary structures (microbial mats, stromatolites and thrombolites) with a calcite composition, are formed by microbes.
Some interesting paleontological and geological processes and terminology are discussed and described e.g., symbiogenesis, molecular clock, acritarchs, rangemorphs, death masks, Snowball Earth, genetic blueprint, carcinization, palaeoentomology, octopus as ‘brain-boxes’ of the invertebrate world, belemnite battlefields, helicospiral shells, ambitopy, Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, partial mortality, hypercalcification, hermatypic-ahermatypic corals, button coral Chomatoseris bouchardi, pentamerism, paraphyly, amnion and amniotes, convergent evolution, terror birds, artiodactyls, coal balls, jet and jetification, beetroot stones, bioglyphs, pipe rock, bioerosion, and dinoturbation.
Different fossils are used in jewelry, as ornamentation/decoration pieces, as table-tops, and in architectural features such as pillars and flooring, e.g., amber (Baltic amber of Eocene-encased insects); trilobites (Elrathia kingii mounted in jewelry and used as refrigerator magnets); ammonites used in jewelry due to their spiral shells; Cretaceous ammonite Placenticeras cut and polished pieces used as gemstones (under the name ammolite); jet (fossilized wood, a black and shiny gemstone with a conchoidal fracture); and rosaries made up of threaded-together Carboniferous crinoid columnals. Some fossils are common as shell collections, e.g., bivalve mollusks.
Fossils (both macro and microfossils, whole and broken) used in urban buildings are also discussed, e.g., capitals modelled on ammonites in neoclassical buildings in southern England; polished Proterozoic (850 million-year-old) stromatolitic limestones (Northeast Red Formation) used in columns of the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square in Beijing (China); fusuline-rich Permian Cottonwood Limestone used in historical buildings in Kansas (USA); Portland Roach as a decorative building stone; Frosterley Marble (a black limestone) and Purbeck and Wealden Marbles (limestones crowded with Viviparus shells) used as building stones; Ceratites in Muschelkalk (mussel limestone), rudists in limestones, trilobites in Wenlock Limestone used as building stones, and nautiloids in paving stones at Hampton Court Palace (west of London, UK).
The use of fossils in various industries is also covered. For instance, in East Anglia during the 19th century, coprolites were used as a source of agricultural phosphate; in central and western Europe, especially Germany, Ceratites-containing muschelkalk (mussel limestone) were used to make cement; trilobites found in Wenlock limestone were used to make lime and as a flux for the iron industry; and diatomites, which are siliceous microfossils, are used to make water-filtration systems.
The spiral shells of ammonites have also served as an inspiration to artists and designers, as evidenced by ammonite-based designs found in jewelry, drawings, and ceramics. Bivalve molluscs on dinner plates and polished Moroccan goniatites in black limestone are common sights in stores that offer fossils or ornamental goods. Ernst Haeckel's photographs from his 1904 book Art Forms in Nature best capture the beauty of radiolarians. Trilobites are part of the emblems of the Palaeontological Society and the Palaeontological Association, and they have an amazing appearance.
Microfossil areas or sites as World Heritage sites and tourist attractions are mentioned, e.g., Hamelin Pool in Shark Bay (Western Australia); Cambrian Lagerstӓtte at Chengjiang in Yunnan (China), geological heritage site Fossil Grove (for observing fossil plants Lepidodendron trees) in Victoria Park (Glasgow, Scotland), and Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona (USA).
Fossil folklores are also described, which are very interesting. For example, “ammonites were once believed to be coiled snakes miraculously turned to stone,”. “Belemnites formed during thunderstorms, being cast down to the ground like missiles—this led to belemnite guards being called ‘thunderbolts’ in folklore”; screwstone for Aptyxiella gastropod due to its high spiral shape, and perforated columnals of crinoids are referred to as St. Cuthbert’s beads due to their utility for rosaries for early Christian adherents of St. Cuthbert (634–687) in Northumberland. Other examples include Devil’s toenail (early Jurassic oyster Gryphaea arcuate); Osses Eds (Late Jurassic trogoniid bivalve Myophorella from the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England); Delabole butterfly (spiriferids retaining the double-winged form).
In my opinion, there are few limitations in the book, which could have made this book a perfect book of fossils. There is a lack of generalized sketch diagrams of fossilization. Additionally, morphology is comprehensively described for almost all fossils; however, labeled fossil diagrams are not included for nearly all fossils. Moreover, ecological niches are described for the majority of fossils; however, I think there should have been labeled diagrams of depositional environments for different extinct and extant fossil groups.
In general, the book is a nice piece of writing with ample adequate contents. This book is interesting and worth reading for a layperson (non-paleontologist/non-geologist) due to the stimulating scientific and general discussion of fossils, including their applications in jewelry, decoration, architecture, and folklore. I recommend reading this book for anyone are interested in fossils and paleontology!