Noun
The collective record of biological development that is reflected in the fossilized remains of organisms through geological history.
Paleontologists study the fossil record.
The record of preserved evidence for a single species or taxon.
Trilobites have an extensive fossil record.
We don't need fossils – the case for evolution is watertight without them; so it is paradoxical to use gaps in the fossil record as though they were evidence against evolution. Richard Dawkins
The fossil record implies trial and error, an inability to anticipate the future, features inconsistent with an efficient Great Designer. Carl Sagan
Because it is clear from the fossil record that almost every species that has ever existed is extinct; extinction is the rule, survival is the exception. Carl Sagan
In the fossil record of our existence, there is no trace of love. You cannot find it held in the earth's crust, waiting to be discovered. The long bones of our ancestors show nothing of their hearts. Their last meal is sometimes preserved in peat or in ice, but their thoughts and feelings are gone. Jeanette Winterson
Humans will eventually become extinct. People treat that as a radical thing to say. But the fossil record shows us that everything eventually becomes extinct. Elizabeth Kolbert
A knowledge of the true age of the Earth and of the fossil record makes it impossible for any balanced intellect to believe in the literal truth of every part of the Bible in the way that fundamentalists do. Francis Crick