Fossils

• Fossils are evidence for evolution; the deepest rocks are the oldest and only simple forms appear in the oldest rocks, as you move into newer rocks, more complex forms appear although the simple ones often still remain
• Assembling chains of fossils in order of age tells a coherent story about the evolution of organisms like man but it takes luck for an organism to be fossilised and even more luck for someone to find it
• The fossil record is incomplete, but the fossils collected clearly demonstrate some important facts; old species have died out, and new species have arisen (which are often similar to the older ones found in the same place) - for example, Darwin saw that fossils of Brachiopods changed slowly over time
• Rocks from different eras contained their own characteristic species; more recent fossils - the fossil record demonstrates that smaller, simple organisms changed into larger more complicated organisms
• Evolution of humans over 3-4 million years but there are many gaps, humans evolved from ape-like ancestors; we are NOT descended from modern gorillas or chimps (they’ve been evolving the whole time too)