Well, the latter part of that period gave us the first representative fossils of almost all major animal divisions (I forget, are those families, or phyla, or what?), and yet we have absolutely NO fossils representing evolutionary forms of animals between those major groups. Evidence for macroevolution (between major classes of animals)? There just isn't any.
I've read a good bit on it, but I'm no expert and I don't have any emotional commitment to answering the question one way or another. But, I will say to those who see man as a natural evolution from the animal world, that I'll start thinking there may be something to it when some species other than man, ANY species, writes a novel, builds a monument, or splits the atom (I figure that if any species other than ours splits the atom, it will be the house cats, and when they do, we're ALL in trouble. ;)) I mean, haven't the animals had even longer to evolve than we have? What's up with that? To my eyes they all seem just stuck, spinning their wheels. You would think that by now there would have arisen another intelligent species to challenge and compete with us.
Take care-- like I said, I'm not an expert, and I really AM bowing out of this discussion now. These discussions NEVER prosper, which is a sure sign to me that evolution really is just as much as religious belief as any belief in any god.
Walden,
Believe me I am no expert, and I don't subscribe to the Evolutionary theory as "god" group myself. It has issues, that one day may or may not be resolved.
The point I am trying to make though is to those who dismiss it out of spirituality concerns. Even if Macro Evolution were shown to be 100% correct, this would not remotely invalidate God.
Hell even if the String theorists are correct, and we live on a membrane surrounded by other membranes and it was the collision of our membrane with another membrane that released the energy that created our universe... St Thomas Acquinas arguments for the existence of God still hold true.
After all, for change to happen, something must have instigated the first change... for things to exist, something prior to it must exist to create it... You take both of these statements back to their ultimate beginning and you are left with SOMETHING out of NOTHING... And that something that willed something from nothing is God.