The fossil record is the collective accumulation of artifacts which have been fossilized all over the world. When viewed as a whole, the fossil record can provide interesting information about the evolution of life on Earth, with examples of organisms ranging from ancient ginkgo trees to stromatolites. Scientists can choose to study the fossil record as a whole, or to look at a specific period, like the Cambrian Explosion, in an attempt to learn more about the history of the Earth and the creatures which inhabit it.

Fossilization is extremely rare. When organisms die, they generally decay, with the assistance of a wide variety of other organisms and the elements. Nature has evolved a very complex and highly efficient system for recycling materials ranging from fur to tree trunks, and this process is rather difficult to stop. An organism can only become fossilized when conditions are just right, preventing decay and setting up a situation in which the organism, or part of it, might be preserved.

One form of fossilization is petrification, where organisms turn to stone as they absorb highly mineralized water over the course of hundreds or thousands of year. Organisms can also be preserved in ice, coal tar, and peat bogs. However, only a fraction of the billions of organisms which have lived on Earth is preserved in the fossil record, and this makes studies of the fossil record extremely challenging.

Many scientists travel all over the world every year to try and fill gaps in the fossil record, in the hopes that the accumulation and study of more fossils will reveal even more history. The closure of such a gap can be a major breakthrough in science, explaining how earlier life on Earth diverged to create the incredibly diverse range of organisms which can be found here today.

Scientists collect fossils in a variety of ways, using specialized techniques to date them so that they understand where the fossils fit into the fossil record, and preserving and cataloging them for further study. Many museums have extensive collections of fossils stored in back rooms where regular visitors never see them, with a few prized pieces on display to illustrate main points in evolutionary history.

As is often the case with science, the fossil record is not without controversy. Until accurate dating techniques could be created, for example, some people were under the impression that all of the organisms in the fossil record lived at the same time. People also debate the reasons for sometimes radical leaps in evolution, and some scientists question certain conclusions which have been reached with evidence from the fossil record, suggesting that more information is needed. The fossil record has also been a bone of contention in the debate over evolution and the age of the Earth.