ORIGINAL SOFT PARTS OF ORGANISMS
This type of [fossil] is formed only under very special conditions of preservation. To be preserved in this manner, the organism must be buried in a medium capable of retarding decomposition of the soft parts. Materials that have been known to produce this type of fossilization are frozen soil or ice, oil-saturated soils, and [amber] (fossil resin). It is also possible for organic remains to become so desiccated that a natural mummy is formed. This usually occurs only in arid or desert regions and when the remains have been protected from predators and scavengers.
Probably the best-known examples of preserved soft parts of [fossil] animals have been discovered in Alaska and Siberia. The frozen tundra of these areas has yielded the remains of large numbers of frozen mammoths—a type of extinct elephant ([Pl. 49]). Many of these huge beasts have been buried for as long as 25,000 years, and their bodies are exposed as the frozen earth begins to thaw. Some of these giant carcasses have been so well preserved that their flesh has been eaten by dogs and their tusks sold by ivory traders. Many museums display the original hair and skin of these elephants, and some have parts of the flesh and muscle preserved in alcohol.
Original soft parts have also been recovered from oil-saturated soils in eastern Poland. These deposits yielded the well-preserved nose-horn, a foreleg, and part of the skin of an extinct rhinoceros.
The natural mummies of ground sloths have been found in caves and volcanic craters in New Mexico and Arizona. The extremely dry desert atmosphere permitted thorough dehydration of the soft parts before decay set in, and specimens with portions of the original skin, hair, tendons, and claws have been discovered.
One of the more interesting and unusual types of fossilization is preservation in [amber]. This type of preservation was made possible when ancient insects were trapped in the sticky gum that exuded from certain coniferous trees. With the passing of time this resin hardened, leaving the insect encased in a tomb of amber, and some insects and spiders have been so well preserved that even fine hairs and muscle tissues may be studied under the microscope.
Although the preservation of original soft parts has produced some interesting and spectacular fossils, this type of fossilization is relatively rare, and the paleontologist must usually work with remains that have been preserved in stone.
ORIGINAL HARD PARTS OF ORGANISMS
Almost all plants and animals possess some type of hard parts which are capable of becoming fossilized. Such hard parts may consist of the shell material of clams, oysters, or snails, the teeth or bones of vertebrates, the exoskeletons of crabs, or the woody tissue of plants. These hard parts are composed of various minerals which are capable of resisting weathering and chemical action, and fossils of this sort are relatively common.
Many of the [fossil] mollusks found in the [Tertiary] and [Cretaceous] rocks of Texas have been preserved in this manner. In some of the specimens the original shell material is so well preserved that the iridescent mother-of-pearl layer of the shell is found virtually intact. This type of preservation is less common, however, in the older rocks of the State.