Humans and dinosaurs did not exist at the same time.
Dinosaurs became extinct over 65 million years ago, well before humans even existed, and all the films that show humans and dinosaurs together are very, very wrong. This is perhaps one of the most irritating questions you can ask an archaeologist!
Archaeology is defined as the study of the human past, and how humans have interacted with their environment over time. Humans have only been on earth for the past few hundred thousand years.
Early fossil bat found in Wyoming, USA © University of Edinburgh Natural History Collection
The study of dinosaurs and fossils is known as palaeontology and palaeontologists are scientists that study ancient creatures and plants that existed in the very distant past.
The tools and methods that palaeontologists use are similar to those used by archaeologists – and sometimes archaeologists may find fossils on their sites, that they can pass on to the palaeontologists to study.
- By: Lorna Richardson |
- Feb 13, 2008
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