Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of
prehistoriclife forms on
Earth through the examination of plant and animal
fossils.[1] This includes the study of body fossils,
tracks (
ichnites),
burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised
feces (
coprolites),
palynomorphs and
chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a
science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1776.
Dinosaurs
The
French naturalist Abbé Dicquemare discovers and briefly describes (without illustrating) large bones discovered in the
Normandy Coast's Vaches Noires Cliffs. Paleontologist
Philippe Taquet has suggested that these bones were probably
dinosaurian.[2]
References
^Gini-Newman, Garfield; Graham, Elizabeth (2001). Echoes from the past: world history to the 16th century. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
ISBN9780070887398.
OCLC46769716.
^Farlow, James O.; M. K. Brett-Surmann (1999). The Complete Dinosaur. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 6.
ISBN0-253-21313-4.