The word paleontology, which is the study or prehistoric life forms on Earth through the investigation of different animal and plant fossils, comes from the greek word "paleo" which means ancient; "ontos" which means being and "logos" or knowledge.

Essentially it encompasses the study of different fossils other than animal and plant types. Some of these fossils might include burrows, fossilized feces or "coprolites", palynomorphs, cast-off parts, fossilized tracks or "ichnites" and even fossilized chemical deposits.

The study of prehistoric hominins as well as their behavior and their culture are included in the range of topics in archaeology as well as paleoanthropology. These two areas are included in this wide branch of knowledge which is paleontology.

In today's modern outlook of paleontology, the study is more focused on how ancient life is related to the different long-term physical effects that have beset the prehistory environment long ago. The changes that paleogeography and paleoclimate have made in the different life forms are long-standing and they always have given the paleontologists data that they could interpret and make assumptions from.

The ecosystems could be studied and because of this, paleontology is able to help the modern scientist discover what life was like back then. Because of this particular purpose of paleontology, it very well overlaps with geology which is the study of rocks and rock formations, zoology, ecology, botany and ecology just to name a few. These are mostly the fields wherein the interaction of humans and life forms is essentially what it is all about.

There are other subdivisions of paleontology include the study of ancient plants, microfossils and animals. There are several paleontologists who specialize in palezoologoy which may focus on invertebrate paleontology which is the study of animals which do not have a backbone or vertebrate paleontology which is the study of ancient animals which have a backbone. The study of microsopic fossils, particularly organic-walled fossils is called palynology.

The nature by which paleontology is used is for the dating of the different fossils and how far back they are in the prehistoric timeline. The age and the nature of the rocks that contain these fossils or may be even above these fossils are the basis for dating these bones. With the help of technology today, paleontology is improving. Give it a few more years and it will be accurate enough to tell exactly what happened during these times.