Final answer:
The remains of ancient creatures preserved in rocks are known as fossils, which include bones, teeth, and impressions. Fossils provide a historical record of life forms and help us understand their evolution.
Step-by-step explanation:
The remains of ancient creatures that are preserved in the rocks forever are known as fossils. Fossils include preserved bones, teeth, and impressions that allow paleontologists to study and understand past life forms and how they have evolved over time. These remains can be preserved through processes such as mineralization, where the hard parts of the organism like bones and teeth, turn into stone, or when organisms leave behind traces such as footprints that are then fossilized.
Conditions for fossilization are not common, which makes fossils rather rare. However, when conditions are right, such as quick burial by sediments or preservation in environments like volcanic ash, limestone, or frozen in glaciers, fossils can form. The fossil record is the history of life deciphered from these remains. Biological anthropologists and paleontologists study fossils to gain the invaluable insight they provide into the earth's biological history.