Paleontology is the study of life in the past Eras, as documented by fossils and rocks that incorporate them. The fossil specimen is the essential tool to recognize and interpret the history of life on Earth and to understand the history of evolutionary processes of organisms.

The Earth has an age of about 4600 million years and life emerged at least 3.55 billion years ago: the history of the planet and the organisms that populated it during the geological Eras are intimately connected to one another and are influenced each other. Paleontology has therefore its foundations in two disciplines apparently far apart, geology (the study of the Earth) and biology (the study of life). To these two sciences, Paleontology provides important information and study tools.

Read more on the pages of the Museo di Geologia e Paleontologia dell'Università di Padova.