Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology , is
the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including,
the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It
includes the study of fossils to classify organisms and study their
interactions with each other and their environments (their paleoecology).
Paleontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th
century BC. The science became established in the 18th century as a result of
Georges Cuvier's work on comparative anatomy, and developed rapidly in the
19th century. The term has been used since 1822 formed from Greek παλαιός (
'palaios' , "old, ancient"), ὄν ( 'on' , (gen.