Fossils are a vital window into ancient life but typically tell only part of the organism's story as only the hard parts remain. However, some exceptional fossils preserve soft tissues, including skin, muscles, internal organs and even eyes, that survive for millions of years. My research investigates how the very process that normally destroys these structures, decay, is also, paradoxically, responsible for their preservation. Here I will present how controlled decay experiments on modern animals are helping us unpick the paradox of fossilisation, and how my research is revealing the key role that decay-related bacteria, which normally obliterate biological information, play in driving mineralisation and capturing soft tissues in the rock record.


Thomas Clements is a lecturer at the University of Reading specialising in Taphonomy, the science of how animals become fossils. His research uses experimental approaches to understand how decay breaks down carcasses, and how these processes drive and bias the geological processes controlling fossilisation, particularly of soft tissues such as internal organs, muscles, and pigments. This work is essential for revealing how our understanding of life's history may be fundamentally shaped and skewed by the very processes that create the fossil record.