Feature Paleontology

First Steps

Modern science investigates the initial stages of how fossils form

By Sid Perkins

- More than 2 years ago

Imagine that during a tour of the paleontology wing of a museum, a group stops to gaze upon a 150-million-year-old fossil of Archaeopteryx, the world’s first bird. “Only 10 of these have been discovered since the species was first described in 1861,” says the guide. “Amazing,” a tourist marvels.