Here’s a good one: a step-by-step recipe to becoming a fossil. Yes! I think I can do this!
Step 1 is to die. I will probably be able to do this without too much problem, but I think I’d rather wait a little while.
Step 2 is neglect. Your corpse shouldn’t be dismantled, shredded, consumed, etc. I think I can do that one, too!
So far, this is looking easy.
Step 3 is burial, also achievable. First catch, though: soil chemistry matters. This is not usually on the list of options at the mortuary. Burial under volcanic ash is mentioned as specifically a bonus, also not usually a service provided by the undertaker.
Step 4 is…fossilization? Wait a minute, all that other, easy stuff is just a prelude? Dang. And then this step looks like it’s strongly chance dependent.
Oh, well. At least the procedure doesn’t look like I’ll have to do any work, which is good, since I’ll be dead through most of it.
The link is on how to become a primate fossil, so it seems that they left out one step. Step 0: Be a primate.
Granted, most of us probably qualify, but all the Cephalopods are out of luck.
Sometimes, when I’m reading a good book, concentrating on some work, or playing a particularly involving video game, I start to fossilize. It’s sometimes difficult to reverse the process. Particularly in my legs.
When I’m ready, though, I plan to enjoy holding very, very still for several googolplex trillion millenia. Or more.
Perhaps this is a hint as to why poopyhead has vats full of creatures — perhaps he intends to fossilize them and confound far future archaeologists.
Simplest method is to drown yourself in a tar pit. Or, you could find a really gigantic blob of pine resin.
A peat bog works pretty well at preserving flesh.
If all primates had the foresight to practice burial at sea, that, perhaps, would be a step n the right direction.
It takes sediment to make sedimentary rock (I.e. fossils) and what better place to find sediment than under water?
I’m with jazzlet. You should become a Bog Man. But keep future researchers guessing — tie a rope around your neck. They’ll bicker among themselves, was it murder, suicide or sacrifice? And to make it even more interesting have an image of cephalopod etched on a piece of stone and hang that around your neck, too. Just think of the hours of fun you’ll for future generations!
I received an advertising flier recently from a company calling itself “Smart Cremation” with the tag line: “Real People. Real Value. Real Stories.” Really!
Perhaps there’s a business opportunity here: Smart Fossilization.
And as if weird ideas will never die, I saw a post in FB recently for cryogenics…which said it really, really works. I’m actually quite confident there are no problems freezing dead tissue. I’ve got some in the freezer in my basement. Of course, there’s a big cost difference between my freezer (dollars/month), and cryogenic services (your estate).
I though the best way to become an instant fossil was to rush up to an exploding volcano wielding your smart phone as some sort of talisman against thinking too hard.
Robro @8: even freezing has its downside: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/longterm-saving
although it looks like a lot of fossils died during step 3 (doesn’t sound pleasant)
It sounds like Harry R Truman may be a candidate for fossilization in a bunch of millennia. He passes at least steps 0, 1, and 3; some of the specifics of his demise might have violated step 2, though: in addition to the ash and water, there was a bunch of heat and flying rock that may have endangered his bodily integrity.
Hi doc, join the GOP (Gods Own Party ) it is full of Fossils .
And it’s a bonus if the fossil cause a “wtf?” mystery, How a newly-discovered mastodon jaw became a mammoth mystery:
According to the article, the Gray Fossil Site itself “was discovered in 2000, the happy result of a road project that was halted and moved after fossils were discovered. Thanks to local citizens, politicians and scientists, a museum literally stands atop the site.” Far more than just this mysterious proboscidean has been found there, with “[a]ncient rhino, alligator, invertebrates, plants and literally hundreds of tapirs”.
So, you should try for a “wtf?” fossil and get a literally purpose-built museum if you do it right.