Welcome to the Digital Atlas of Ancient Life
Identify fossils and explore the diversity and history of life on Earth
What's new?
Devonian Atlas of ancient Life
November 25, 2025
A fossil field guide to over 200 Devonian species from New York, Michigan, and Wisconsin is now online.
Visit at: https://devonianatlas.org/
Visit the Devonian Atlas of Ancient Life
New Digital Encyclopedia of Ancient Life Chapter
Live-Dead Analysis in Conservation Paleobiology by Goben et al.
February 13, 2025
Live-dead analysis is a common conservation paleobiology tool that is frequently applied in shallow marine soft-sediment environments to compare living and death assemblages.
Learn more about live-dead analysis in this new chapter of the Digital Encyclopedia of Ancient Life.
Live-Dead Analysis in Conservation Paleobiology
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Continued development and maintenance of the Digital Atlas of Ancient Life and the Paleontological Research Institution's (PRI's) broader Earth@Home project depends on support from visitors like you.
Donations of any amount are welcome.
Regional field guides to fossils
Digital Encyclopedia of Ancient Life
A free, open access paleontology textbook
Topics online now:
- Nature of the Fossil Record
- Geological Time
- Evolution and the Fossil Record
- Systematics
- Paleoecology
- Conservation Paleobiology
- Phylum Porifera (sponges)
- Phylum Cnidaria, Order Rugosa (rugose corals)
- Phylum Cnidaria, Order Tabulata (tabulate corals)
- Phylum Cnidaria, Order Scleractinia
- Phylum Brachiopoda (brachiopods)
- Phylum Bryozoa
- Phylum Mollusca, Class Gastropoda (gastropods)
- Phylum Mollusca, Class Bivalvia (bivalves)
- Phylum Mollusca, Class Cephalopoda (cephalopods)
- Phylum Echinodermata (echinoderms)
- Phylum Chordata (chapter in progress)
- Embryophytes (land plants, chapter in progress)
- Angiosperms (flowering plants, chapter in progress)
- Paleontological Methods and Techniques: Photogrammetry
Virtual Exhibits
Explore virtual museum exhibits about different topics in natural history
New: Our first virtual exhibit, "Survivors: Up Close with Living Fossils," is online now. Explore here.
