More from this author. 1  Largest World Cities: 2014. 2  World Urban Areas Population and Density: A 2012 Update. 3  Largest Cities in the World: 2016. 4  Largest 1,000 Cities on Earth: World Urban Areas: 2015 Edition. 5  The Costs of Smart Growth Revisited: A 40 Year Perspective.
Definition of fossil. 1  1 : a remnant, impression, or trace of an organism of past geologic ages that has been preserved in the earth's crust â compare living fossil. 2  2a : a person whose views are outmoded : fogyb : something (such as a theory) that has become rigidly fixed.
By Andrew Alden. Fossils are precious gifts from the geologic past: signs and remains of ancient living things preserved in the Earth's crust. The word has a Latin origin, from fossilis meaning dug up, and that remains the key attribute of what we label as fossils.ossils are exposed by the erosion of the rocks that hold them. But during the thousands of years it may take to unveil a fossil skeleton from one end to the other, the first part to emerge crumbles into sand.