Brief historical retrospective on the formation of the vertebrate fossil record

Abstract

The thought about the formation of the fossil record is often associated with the science that currently deals with the study of this phenomenon, the Taphonomy. Generally, Brazilian works on the subject do not mention contributions developed previously to this theoretical framework. In this work we gathered information on the evolution of knowledge about fossilization published before and after the proposition of the term Taphonomy. We present to the readers a historical panorama that can be a starting point for those interested in deepening in this topic. We organized the information in three blocks: Classical Antiquity (between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD), Scientific Revolution (between the 15th and 19th centuries) and Origin and evolution of the concept of Taphonomy (since the 20th century). The survey carried out made it possible to elaborate a brief history of the thinking about the formation of the fossil record and gathers information about the preludes of the study of the fossils in the Occident, in Portuguese. At least since Classical Antiquity, attempts to explain the meaning of fossils and the processes of fossilization reveal a motivation that in the light of today's knowledge can be considered essentially taphonomic. The information presented here demonstrates that the investigation of central problems of Biological and Earth Sciences, including those of a taphonomic nature, has long preceded the division of knowledge in these two broad areas. Then, the later development of Taphonomy, already denominated, represents the continuity of a line of research that originated as prematurely as the own recognition of the fossils as such.