Paleontologists use _________ to estimate the age of a fossil based on the layer in which it is found. Also, any method of determining whether an event or object is older or younger than others.

Answer 1

The primary answer you are looking for is Stratigraphy which is one way of determining time in prehistory. Stratigraphy is Charles Lyell’s Law of Superposition: higher strata are younger than lower strata (1830-1832). For the Paleontologist, another key methodology knows about Index Fossils. Fossils of certain extinct creatures are always found in certain strata. Also, the Paleontologist has another tool that is Biostratigraphy (Smith 1815), using evolutionary changes in well-known species-fossils as a dating tool.