Final answer:
Fossils are the preserved remains of long-dead plants or animals, which include bones, teeth, and impressions. They are critical for studying life's evolutionary history on Earth. Certain conditions, like being trapped in amber or preserved in bogs, can lead to remarkable fossil preservation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The preserved remains of a long-dead plant or animal are known as fossils. Fossils can include bones, teeth, and impressions, and they are crucial for understanding the history of life on Earth. Biological anthropologists study these fossil artifacts to gather information about past organisms and their environments. Conditions such as volcanic ash, limestone, and mineralized groundwater can be favorable for fossil preservation, ensuring that the remains do not decompose completely. Unaltered fossils, which are rarer, may be found in amber, trapped in tar, dried out, or frozen, such as the wooly mammoth nicknamed Effie. The study of fossils, including the methods such as carbon-14 dating, allows paleontologists to piece together the evolutionary history and determine the age of these specimens.
Fossilization can occur in a variety of environments, and specific conditions can lead to exceptional preservation, such as the bodies of humans and animals found perfectly preserved in bogs. These anaerobic conditions prevent the decay that typically occurs after death.