fossil

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fossil The remains of a once-living organism, generally those that lived prior to the end of the last glacial period, i.e. fossils are older than 10 000 years. They include skeletons, tracks, impressions, trails, borings, and casts. Fossils are usually found in hard rock, but not always: e.g. woolly mammoths living 20 000 years ago were recovered from the frozen tundra of Siberia.

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