When reading about ancient history of any type one of the main sources of information comes from fossils. At first glance, it might seem like fossils are extremely common since we have thousands of examples of them coming from places around the world.

The reality is, however, that the vast majority of creatures that have ever, or will ever, walk the Earth do not leave fossils behind (and certainly not fossils that keep all the bones together).

When something dies, it has to go through a very specific process in order to become a fossil, and there are many factors that work against that. Dead animals are almost always eaten (either by the other animal that killed them, or by scavengers). In addition, they will have their bones dragged all over and broken down over time.

If you want to become a fossil when you die, you’ll want to understand the process that needs to happen.

Dr. Susannah Maidment is a senior researcher in the division of Vertebrates, Anthropology, and Palaeobiology at the Natural History Museum, London. She recently communicated with IFLScience about this process:

“The fossilization process is a very rare process. Sometimes we have things like skin and other soft tissues like feathers preserved and usually that requires a quite unique set of burial conditions, often very rapid burial. If you imagine that your dinosaur dies on a flood plain, something like the Serengeti, and it sort of keels over and dies, then all these other animals are going to be coming along and tearing it apart. You’ve got your vultures picking away at it, and lions taking bits, then bacteria breaking it down, and it’s all going to get dragged all over the floodplain.”

So, clearly this is not something that happens all the time. She goes on to talk about what is needed to facilitate the formation of a fossil:

“What we need, really, is to take that dead carcass and the moment it dies, is to put it somewhere where that scavenging process and that rotting process can’t occur. A really good way is to bury it really, really rapidly. So, sometimes these animals fall into lakes or are overcome by sand dunes, and that’s what we need for soft parts to be preserved.”

When a body is buried quickly (which, sadly, often means that they are buried alive) the fossilization process may occur if the conditions are right. In fact, fossilization can start to take place in a matter of days, though that is not always the case. It can also take thousands of years.

In fact, in order to be classified as a true fossil according to the British Geological Society, it has to be older than 10,000 years.

While fossilization may be one way to ensure your body remains, it is certainly not something most people will want to go through and it should generally be avoided if possible.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about why we should be worried about the leak in the bottom of the ocean.