Editing 2990: Late Cenozoic

{{comic
| number    = 2990
| date      = September 25, 2024
| title     = Late Cenozoic
| image     = late_cenozoic_2x.png
| imagesize = 303x396px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = Our nucleic acid recovery techinques found a great deal of homo sapiens DNA incorporated into the fossils, particularly the ones containing high levels of resin, leading to the theory that these dinosaurs preyed on the once-dominant primates.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ONCE-DOMINANT BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A major part of understanding how life-forms existed and operated in the past involves finding fossilized remains, and working out a timeline of when they lived, based on the sediment layers in which they were found (among other factors). Modern paleontology has resulted in many of these fossilized remains being dug up and assembled into complete skeletons, which are frequently put on display in museums and other facilities.

This comic posits a distant future in which the remains of current civilization become buried in sediment. Presumably, this involves humanity either going extinct or losing our dominance over the planet. In this context, life-forms of the future (either aliens or earth organisms that have become unrecognizable) have apparently discovered the reconstructed fossils in the ruins of our museums and presumed that they died in our geological era.

The title of the strip refers to the {{w|Cenozoic}} era, which is the current geological era, so "the late Cenozoic" is right now, the time in which humans live. The strip also refers to the {{w|Cretaceous}} period, which is the last period of the {{w|Mesozoic}} era, and the last era in which non-avian dinosaurs lived. The joke here is that in the distant future, our current era would be studied in the same way that we study ancient geological eras, but misunderstood entirely.

The confusion over which era originated dinosaur fossils would present a timeline problem. Dinosaur fossils would be found in layers from the Cretaceous period (ending 66 million years ago), but a significant number of them would also be found in layers from the late Cenozoic (starting no earlier than a hundred years ago, but probably to depend upon when current society breaks down and allows natural sedimentation or debris to build up over the relevant displays), but not in any layers in between. Instead of realizing that these fossils had been dug up, relocated, and reconstructed, the future paleontologists conclude that a small number of these dinosaurs survived the {{w|Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event}}, lived in small numbers for tens of millions of years, leaving no fossil record, and then once again flourished, leaving complete fossils in our era. This is, of course, laughably wrong, but future scientists who didn't understand human civilization might consider it to be the most obvious explanation for such apparently contradictory information. 

In real life, the fossil record is sporadic, since only a small fraction of individuals will ever be fossilised. And, even then, a fossil is formed underground (hidden), only to be discoverable for a short blink of geological time when that rock is weathered/dug into just enough to expose it, at which point it is likely to be itself weathered away without trace unless somebody happens to discover it and preserve it. This can lead to "gaps" appearing in the fossil record, where paleontologists and museum curators have just not been lucky enough. When a species (or genus, family, etc.) appears to have gone extinct only to unexpectedly show up again at a later date, it is referred to as a {{w|Lazarus taxon}}. It is also possible for fossils from one time to appear in rock strata of a later age. This occurs when erosion frees the fossil from its original surroundings and chances to deposit it in newer sediment, before its own destruction, resulting in what is known as a reworked or {{w|derived fossil}}.

The title text says that a high amount of resin and human DNA has led to them theorizing that dinosaurs ate humans. When reconstructing fossils, resin is often used to recreate missing or incomplete bones, and for other purposes in assembling and displaying a "complete" skeleton. Since this resin is made and mixed by humans,{{fact}} incidental human DNA sources (such as cast off skin cells and hair) almost certainly get mixed in, leading to this misconception.

A similar museum, misunderstood by people instead of alien beings, is depicted in [[2760: Paleontology Museum]].

==Transcript==
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:[Three squid-like aliens in a classroom; one alien stands in front of a board covered with minute text and a drawing of a T-Rex skeleton. Two aliens sit on stools watching the teacher alien. The teacher alien on the left is on a raised platform and points at the board with one tentacle.]
:Left alien: Species such as triceratops and tyrannosaurus became more rare after the Cretaceous, but they survived to flourish in the late Cenozoic, 66 million years later.
:Left alien: Many complete skeletons have been discovered from this era.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:It's going to be really funny when our museums get buried in sediment.

==Trivia==
The title text has a typo: "techinques" should be "techniques".

The future beings are presumably ones that took over the far future of the Earth long after the extinction of humans. They are possibly descendents of one or other of the {{w|cephalopod}}s, species widely noted for their intelligence even today, but also bear a passing resemblence to the 'contemporary' [[2572: Alien Observers|alien life-forms]] that [[Randall]] uses for comics set in the current era.

Their relationship with his other [[1747: Spider Paleontology|beings from the future]], seen occasionally, is uncertain. That other form may merely be an 'avatar' presence, made necessary by the time-travel (or visitation) method in use, or else a representative from a [[1450: AI-Box Experiment|predominantly non-biological]] era of the future. <!-- NB. I'm sure there's a "hovering blob/spark giving a future presentation", out there in xkcd-land, but I can't currently find it in order to reference it here. -->

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Geology]]