Paleontology in Kentucky refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Kentucky. Kentucky's abundance of exposed sedimentary rock makes it an ideal source of fossils. The oldest exposed rocks in Kentucky are of Ordovician age. The geologic column of Kentucky also contains rocks deposited during the ensuing periods until the end of the Pennsylvanian. During this span of time the state was first home to a warm shallow sea home to an abundance and variety of brachiopods, cephalopods, crinoids, and trilobites. During the Devonian, a large reef system formed at what is now the Falls of the Ohio. Swamps covered Kentucky during the ensuing Carboniferous period. Then a gap spans from the start of the Permian to the Pleistocene, although the gap i