Fossils: A Story of the Rocks and Their Record of Prehistoric Life

by Harvey C. Markman

FOSSILS
A Story of the Rocks
and
Their Record of Prehistoric Life

By Harvey C. Markman
Curator of Geology and Paleontology

Cover Design and Murals by
Mary Chilton Gray

DENVER MUSEUM OF
NATURAL HISTORY

Popular Series No. 3
Alfred M. Bailey, Editor

Third Edition, Reprinted
October 1, 1954

At Work on a Dinosaur Skeleton

CONTENTS

Page [Introduction] 5 [The Prehistoric Record] 5 [Varieties of Fossils] 8 [Fossilization] 9 [Floras and Faunas] 13 [Formations] 16 [Geological Time] 18 [Explanation of the Time Chart] 23 [The Geological Section] 25 [Before the Age of Reptiles] 31 [The Pre-Cambrian Complex] 31 [Cambrian Life] 33 [The Ordovician Record] 35 [Silurian Events] 36 [Devonian Progress] 37 [Carboniferous Forests] 40 [Permian Hardships] 43 [The Age of Reptiles] 47 [Dinosaurs] 48 [Plant Life and Climate] 56 [Coal and Fossil Footprints] 57 [Mesozoic Invertebrates] 58 [Extinct Birds] 60 [Ancestors of the Mammals] 61 [The Age of Mammals] 64 [Prehistoric Horses] 70 [Mastodons and Mammoths] 80 [The Rancho La Brea Fossil Pits] 88 [The Age of Man] 93 [Supplementary Reading] 95