Paleontology, at least in part, owes its beginnings to fossils turning up where they were not expected. The distribution of shark teeth and fossil shells over the European countryside – vestiges of prehistoric seabeds which had been thrust up to become land over millions of years – were essential clues which naturalists such as the Danish anatomist Nicolas Steno used to create a perspective of a changing world. Before a comprehension of Deep Time was developed, finding fossilized shark teeth or shells along the beach or in ocean dredges probably would not have generated much interest or comment. It was the fact that these remainders of ancient life were found in an unexpected, terrestrial context which forced scholars to come