Paleontological observations date back to at least the 6th century BC.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by multiple independent scholarly and tertiary sources, including academic papers and encyclopedic references, all attributing early paleontological observation to Xenophanes of Colophon in the 6th century BC. [tier=silver indep_score=0.833 clusters=3 claim_tier=notable]
Sources
- Paleontology (wikipedia)
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315716482_2500_Years_of_Palaeoecology_A_Note_on_the_Work_of_Xenophanes_of_Colophon_Circa_570-475_BCE (corroboration)
- https://iep.utm.edu/xenoph/ (corroboration)
- https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n13/adrienne-mayor/megafauna (corroboration)