History Main / FossilRevival

** Realistically speaking, there's no chance of getting genetic material for something as long-extinct as a non-avian dinosaur -- there's simply no way for DNA to survive for the 65 million or more years since their extinction even in ideal conditions, let alone the process of fossilization. So sorry, no ''T. rex'' that way. However, it ''is'' theoretically possible to genetically reverse engineer a ''T. Rex'' from, say, a chicken. Or at least genetically engineer something that looks similar to a ''T. Rex''.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': SCP-250 is one of the few that doesn't require particularly stringent safety protocols, because it's an animated ''Allosaurus'' skeleton that behaves like, well, a large predatory carnosaur. It even eats things, although as soon as they fall through its nonexistent throat it loses interest in them, considering them eaten.

* ''Film/TriassicAttack'' is about a trio of dinosaur skeletons ([[StockDinosaurs a raptor]], ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Pteranodon]]'', and ''[[StockDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus]]'') being accidentally revived by a MagicalNativeAmerican and going on a rampage.

Realistically, an actual fossil is nothing more than lithified remains, and little if any actual genetic material will have survived (if we're dealing with a straight-up {{Necromancer}} however, then the problem instead is that the process of lithification gradually replaces the bones with bone-shaped rocks over time).[[note]]Not to mention that most fossil ''displays'' are actually just plaster replicas with wire supports.[[/note]] Sometimes the writers attempt to bypass this, by having said remains preserved in [[MonsterInTheIce ice]] or amber. While this wouldn't work for most prehistoric animals due to DNA decaying over time, it's more plausible to the audience, so it gets a pass. Of course, when dealing with [[AWizardDidIt more fantastic ways]] of bringing fossils to life (such as the aforementioned necromancy), these objections don't really matter.

Realistically, an actual fossil is nothing more than lithified remains, and little if any actual genetic material will have survived (if we're dealing with a straight-up {{Necromancer}} however, then the problem instead is that the process of lithification gradually replaces the bones with bone-shaped rocks over time). [[note]]Not to mention that most fossil ''displays'' are actually just plaster replicas with wire supports.[[/note]] Sometimes the writers attempt to bypass this, by having said remains preserved in [[MonsterInTheIce ice]] or amber. While this wouldn't work for most prehistoric animals due to DNA decaying over time, it's more plausible to the audience, so it gets a pass. Of course, when dealing with [[AWizardDidIt more fantastic ways]] of bringing fossils to life (such as the aforementioned necromancy), these objections don't really matter.

* ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemon'': Being a LetsPlay of ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', has naturally encountered some of these. ''Unlike'' the Pokemon example, however, the fossil Pokemon are revered as long-dead deities: Dome and Helix [[OrderVsChaos (Order and Chaos)]], Root and Claw ([[MotorMouth Speech]] and [[TheVoiceless Silence]]), Armor and Skull ([[TheStrategist Strategy]] and [[AttackAttackAttack Luck]]), Plume and Cover ([[TheGrimReaper Death]] and [[LivingForeverIsAwesome Life]]), Jaw and Sail ([[RealityWarper Alternate Dimensions]]), and finally Amber and Drive ([[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil Balance]] and [[MadGod Imbalance]]). Helix is generally considered the [[BigGood patron god]] of the Voices, although the host Alice was Dome-aligned and the host AJ actually killed Helix.

SubTrope to NotSoExtinct. Compare and contrast UndeadFossils, where the revived animal is technically still dead.

* ''Fanfic/{{Outsiders|XTrestWhoX}}'': While exploring Glittering Cave Saito finds a fossilized jawbone that he uses to clone his Tyrunt, Shogun.

* In ''Film/TheBeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms'', nuclear testing in the Arctic resurrects a frozen ''Rhedosaurus'' -- a fictional species of vicious dinosaur.
* ''Film/{{Carnosaur}}'' follows characters Doc Smith and Ann Thrush in their efforts to thwart Dr. Jane Tiptree's plan to exterminate the human race with a lethal virus and replace them with her own genetically created dinosaurs.

* ''Film/{{Mammoth|2006}}'': An alien crash-lands in a small town that has a frozen mammoth in its museum. The alien gets inside of the mammoth, brings it to life, and goes on a soul-sucking rampage.
* ''Film/TriassicAttack'' is about a trio of dinosaur skeletons ([[StockDinosaurs a raptor,]] ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Pteranodon]]'', and ''[[StockDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus]]'') being accidentally revived by a MagicalNativeAmerican and going on a rampage.

* ''Literature/{{Carnosaur}}'', written [[OlderThanTheyThink six years]] ''before'' Michael Crichton [[Literature/JurassicPark ran with the idea]], uses this trope to recreate dinosaurs from mummified fossil remains.
* ''Literature/{{Elatsoe}}'': Ellie is able to summon the ghosts of animals, which she uses to revive a trilobite. Also, her grandmother used it to revive a mammoth and tame it.
* In "The Eternal Wall", by Creator/RaymondZGallun, a million years in the future [[MoleMen prairie dog]] [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist scientist]] Loy Chuk discovers the remains of Ned Vince, a man from the 20th century, who has drowned in an alkaline lake and been subsequently buried in sediments, leaving a petrified corpse. Loy Chuk's [[AppliedPhlebotinum advanced technology]] is able to restore Ned on a molecular level, bringing him back to life.
* In ''Literature/{{Existence}}'', chimeric neanderthals become one of five recognized varieties of human. In the very end, it's said that some of the [[VirtualGhost Emissaries]] were enticed to cooperate with the new Artifact plan by offering to resurrect their species using salvaged alien technology that could create cells from scratch.

* ''Literature/TheGodwhale'' by T. J. Bass has people on future Earth thinking about restoring extinct ocean life -- they have the technology, it's just that restoring the complete self-sustaining system is a problem. They also try to restore another extinct and dangerous life form -- [[spoiler:a modern-day human]] -- in order to battle other similar creatures threatening them. In order for it to stay loyal, they create it without the ability to synthesize certain amino acids. That was '''sixteen''' years before Crichton.
* In ''Literature/GreatGusliar'', one of the short stories, ''Retrogenetics'', is entirely about the trope. Professor Minz's recreation of several prehistoric species, including the pterodactyl and the cave bear, is extremely successful, and the animals live contentedly in a reserve. One journalist tries to badmouth the experiment, saying that there is too much danger involved with wildlife, let alone long-extinct wildlife. He is later bitten [[{{Irony}} by his own Siamese cat]].
* ''Literature/TheImmortals'': In the third book, Daine flies into an UnstoppableRage when she believes Numair to be dead. Said UnstoppableRage involves not only amassing an army of ''living'' animals but also [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome reanimating the myriad dinosaur skeletons]] hanging around the Carthaki palace.

* In ''Literature/{{Mirabile}}'', it's mentioned that geneticists back on Earth were having some success in reconstructing extinct species, and a few were included with the plants and animals the colonists took to Mirabile. In one scene, members of the Australian Guild celebrate the imminent resurrection of the thylacine.
* ''Literature/RickyRicottasMightyRobot'': General Jackrabbit uses his DNA with fossil skulls to create the Jurassic Jackrabbits. Sounds a lot like ''Film/JurassicPark''.

* ''Literature/SteelBeach'': Brontosaurs have been revived to serve as food animals on the Moon.

* One episode of ''Series/UltramanNeos'' features the kaiju, King Dainas, which originally started off as the fossilized skeletons of a T-Rex, a Triceratops, and a Stegosaurus. Being buried in a construction site that is filled with Dark Matter Energy, the resulting Dark Matter ends up causing the skeletons to merge together and revive itself into a kaiju-sized monster.

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': Mary Anning's Noble Phantasm, Duria Antiquior - A More Ancient Dorset, has her bring her fossils to life to ZergRush the enemy.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' has you search for fossils to resurrect a once dead dinosaur species called the Kakliosaur. Shepard even says s/he found the fossil encased in [[Film/JurassicPark amber]].

* ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'': Some sort of semi-sentient organic goo-thing, resulting from an accidental AssimilationPlot, disappears into the New York Museum of History. Apparently deciding that [[RuleOfCool dinosaurs are awesome]], it then flows across the exhibited skeletons and revives them as entirely fleshy -- and quite aggressive -- dinosaurs.

* In ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankAll4One'', Dr. Nefarious had Lawarence reanimate the Light-Eating Zegrute on display in the middle of the city.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', thanks to the archaeology profession released in the ''Cataclysm'' expansion, allows players to find raptor fossils and rebuild them into a moving mount and pet. This process may or may not involve electricity and necromantic magic.

* ''VideoGame/ZooTycoon 2'': The ''Extinct Animals'' expansion pack lets the player find fossils and clone a baby dino/extinct animal from it. If the player gets a 100% on the minigame required to clone the critter, the baby becomes a Super Clone, which is bigger, lives longer, and won't get sick.

* ''WebAnimation/{{Xombie}}'': One of the main characters has a pet zombie velociraptor (as whatever brought about the ZombieApocalypse reanimated dinosaurs in the museum).

* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' features [[http://www.orionsarm.com/xcms.php?r=oaeg-view-article&egart_uid=4823993f36e02 lazurogenics,]] which has reconstructed and many extinct or even cryptozoological species. Most of them have been [[UpliftedAnimal provolved]] such as the Toh Chi Lok, some of whom have transcended to form the [[DeusEstMachina archailect]] [[http://www.orionsarm.com/xcms.php?r=oaeg-view-article&egart_uid=48f7ffc7c1000 "The Archosaurian Entity."]]
* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': SCP-250 is one of the few that doesn't require particularly stringent safety protocols, because it's an animated ''Allosaurus'' skeleton that behaves like, well, a large predatory carnosaur. It even eats things, though as soon as they fall through its nonexistent throat it loses interest in them, considering them eaten.

** In "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E7JurassicBark Jurassic Bark]]", Professor Farnsworth attempts to revive the fossilized remains of Fry's dog.

** Calling the fossil Pokémon in the Galar region "improperly revived" is a massive understatement. The fossils in the region are all broken up into halves, and you must combine two halves to make a completed Pokémon; before reviving it. There are two front halves and two back halves that you can find. Here's the problem though: ''They are from four different Pokémon.'' The front halves come from an Electric-type bird ("-zolt") and a Water-type fish ("-vish"), while the back halves come from a Dragon-type dinosaur ("Draco-") and an Ice-type aquatic creature ("Arcto-"). You can combine either front half with either back half, resulting in four horrifying MixAndMatchCritters that live in constant suffering. None of them are part Rock-type, instead having the typing of the two halves. There is no way to obtain the missing halves in order to revive these Pokémon properly.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterSanctuary'': The only way to obtain a Shockhopper is to bring a [[NotSoExtinct Dodo]] egg to Lady Stasis, who will then convert it into a Shockhopper egg.

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* In ''ComicBook/TraggAndTheSkyGods'' #9, Tragg battles a {{Necromancer}} called Ostellon, Master of the Living Bones who has been empowered by the Dark Gods. Ostellon reanimates a tyrannosaurus skeleton to attack Tragg.

%%* ''Film/{{Carnosaur}}'':

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': In ''Literature/DeadBeat'', Harry revives Sue, the ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' skeleton in the Field Museum of Chicago. It's straightforward necromancy (although Sue certainly looks and acts alive enough, complete with her old instincts and reflexes) and the effects are ultimately temporary, but that it works on a long-petrified dinosaur skeleton instead of a more "regular" corpse at all puts it under this trope. However, by the nature of the Dresden-verse rules, the longer something has been dead the stronger it is when raised -- and Sue has been dead a very, very long time. Also conveniently, as Sue wasn't once a person, this is a perfectly legal usage of magic.

* ''Literature/{{Elatsoe}}'': Ellie is able to summon the ghosts of animals, which she uses to revive a trilobite. Also, her grandmother used it to revive a mammoth and tame it.
* ''Literature/StielaugeDerUrkrebs'': At the end of the book, Stielauge is revived by god in order to show the children his adventures.

* ''Tabletopgame/{{Deadlands}}'': The Walking Fossil is a monster in the form of an animated stone skeleton of a dinosaur.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'': The Warlock uses magic to bring a dinosaur skeleton to life to attack Jimmy Olsen in "[[Recap/TheNewAdventuresOfSupermanS1E10 Return of Warlock.]]" Unusually, it appears to be an apatosaurus rather than a T-Rex or something similarly intimidating.

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'': how Shockwave manages to create the Predacons. We're talking about MechanicalLifeforms here. He resurrected them using their "Cybernucleic Acid".

* ''Film/TriassicAttack'' is about a trio of dinosaur skeletons ([[StockDinosaurs a raptor,]] ''[[StockDinosaurs Pteranodon]]'', [[StockDinosaurs and]] ''[[StockDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus]]'') being accidentally revived by a MagicalNativeAmerican and going on a rampage.

** Calling the fossil Pokémon in the Galar region "improperly revived" is a massive understatement. The fossils in the region are all broken up into halves, and you must combine two halves to make a completed Pok&emon; before reviving it. There are two front halves and two back halves that you can find. Here's the problem though: ''They are from four different Pokémon.'' The front halves come from an Electric-type bird ("-zolt") and a Water-type fish ("-vish"), while the back halves come from a Dragon-type dinosaur ("Draco-") and an Ice-type aquatic creature ("Arcto-"). You can combine either front half with either back half, resulting in four horrifying MixAndMatchCritters that live in constant suffering. None of them are part Rock-type, instead having the typing of the two halves. There is no way to obtain the missing halves in order to revive these Pokémon properly.

Realistically, an actual fossil is nothing more than lithified remains, and little if any actual genetic material will have survived (if we're dealing with a straight-up {{Necromancer}} however, then the problem instead is that the process of lithification gradually replaces the bones with bone-shaped rocks over time). [[note]]Not to mention that most fossil ''displays'' are actually just plaster replicas with wire supports.[[/note]] Sometimes the writers attempt to bypass this, by having said remains preserved in ice or amber. While this wouldn't work for most prehistoric animals due to DNA decaying over time, it's more plausible to the audience, so it gets a pass. Of course, when dealing with [[AWizardDidIt more fantastic ways]] of bringing fossils to life (such as the aforementioned necromancy), these objections don't really matter.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'': The Warlock uses magic to bring a dinosaur skeleton to life to attack Jimmy Olsen in "Return of Warlock."

* ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' had a dinosaur park created from DNA cloned from fossils (note this comic was published ''twelve years'' before ''Literature/JurassicPark'' was written). ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' runs into "Satunus", a particularly vicious ''T. rex'' that had escaped from the park, in several adventures.

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'': how Shockwave manages to create the Predacons. Just to remind you, we're talking about MechanicalLifeforms here. He resurrected them using their "Cybernucleic Acid".

** necromancy is very much a thing, and all manner of creatures have been resurrected this way: including some that have been dead a very long time and reduced to skeletons if not exactly fossilized. Sindragosa, preserved under the ice of Northrend is a particularly dramatic example.

* In''ComicBook/TraggAndTheSkyGods'' #9, Tragg battles a {{Necromancer}} called Ostellon, Master of the Living Bones who has been empowered by the Dark Gods. Ostellon reanimates a tyrannosaurus skeleton to attack Tragg.

** Realistically speaking, there's no chance of getting genetic material for something as long-extinct as a non-avian dinosaur -- there's simply no way for DNA to survive for the 65 million or more years since their extinction even in ideal conditions, let alone the process of fossilization. So sorry, no ''T. rex'' that way. However, it ''is'' theoretically possible to genetically reverse engineer a ''T. rex'' from, say, a chicken.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', thanks to the archaeology profession released in the ''Cataclysm'' expansion, allows players to find raptor fossils and rebuild them into a moving mount and pet.

Realistically, an actual fossil is nothing more than lithified remains, and little if any actual genetic material will have survived (if we're dealing with a straight-up {{Necromancer}} however, then the problem instead is that the process of lithification gradually replaces the bones with bone-shaped rocks over time). [[note]]Not to mention that most fossil ''displays'' are actually just plaster replicas with wire supports.[[/note]] Sometimes the writers attempt to bypass this, by having said remains preserved in ice or amber. While this wouldn't work for most prehistoric animals due to DNA decaying over time, it's more plausible to the audience, so it gets a pass. Of course, when dealing with [[AWizardDidIt more fantastic ways]] of bringing fossils to life (such as the aformentioned necromancy), these objections don't really matter.

* In''ComicBook/TraggAndTheSkyGods'' #9, Tragg battles a {{Necromancer}} called Ostellon, Master of the Living Bones who has been empowered by the Dark Gods. Ostellon reanimates an tyrannosaurus skeleton to attack Tragg.

* ''Film/{{Mammoth|2006}}'': An alien crash-lands in a small town that has a frozen mammoth in its museum. The alien gets inside of the mammoth, brings it to life and goes on a soul-sucking rampage.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': In ''Literature/DeadBeat'', Harry revives Sue, the ''Tyrannosaurs rex'' skeleton in the Field Museum of Chicago. It's straightforward necromancy (although Sue certainly looks and acts alive enough, complete with her old instincts and reflexes) and the effects ultimately temporary, but that it works on a long-petrified dinosaur skeleton instead of a more "regular" corpse at all puts it under this trope. However, by the nature of the Dresden-verse rules, the longer something has been dead the stronger its is when raised -- and Sue has been dead a very, very long time. Also conveniently, as Sue wasn't once a person, this is a perfectly legal usage of magic.

* In ''Literature/{{Existence}}'', chimeric neanderthals become one of five recognized varieties of human. In the very end it's said that some of the [[VirtualGhost Emissaries]] were enticed to cooperate with the new Artifact plan by offering to resurrect their species using salvaged alien technology that could create cells from scratch.
* In "Literature/FoundingFathers" by Creator/StephenDedman, set on a newly-colonized planet, it's mentioned in passing that the animals the colonists brought with them as frozen embryos include not only the obvious things like cattle and deer but also mammoths and passenger pigeons.
* ''Literature/TheGodwhale'' by T. J. Bass has people on future Earth thinking about restoring extinct ocean life -- they have the technology, it's just that restoring the complete self-sustaining system is a problem. They also try to restore another extinct and dangerous life form -- [[spoiler:a modern day human]] -- in order to battle other similar creatures threatening them. In order for it to stay loyal, they create it without the ability to synthesize certain amino acids. That was '''sixteen''' years before Crichton.

** Neanderthals are the most socially impactful of the resurrected species, and are generally treated almost -- but not quite -- as people like modern humans. The use of ''Homo sapiens'' DNA to fill in a missing gap in their genome is a plot point later.

* One episode of ''Series/UltramanNeos'' features the kaiju, King Dainas, which originally started off as the fossilized skeletons of a T-Rex, a Triceratops, and a Stegosaurus. Being buried in a construction site which is filled with Dark Matter Energy, the resulting Dark Matter ends up causing the skeletons to merge together and revive itself into a kaiju-sized monster.

* ''VideoGame/FossilFighters'' does this more directly, with dinosaurs being revived from fossils. However, the technology that does so is a little... [[SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology funky]], and gives the critters it revives [[DinosaursAreDragons elemental powers]].

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': SCP-250 is one of the few that doesn't require particularly stringent safety protocols, because it's an animated ''Allosaurus'' skeleton that behaves like, well, a large predatory carnosaur. It even eats things, though as soon as they fall though its nonexistent throat it loses interest in them, considering them eaten.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperGlobetrotters'': One episodes features Museum Man, who has a device that turns dinosaur skeletons back into live dinosaurs.