The object of this book is to explain how to create a synthesis of complex biostratigraphic data, and how to extract from such a syn- thesis a relative time scale based exclusively on the fossil content of sedimentary rocks. Such a time scale can be used to attribute relative ages to isolated fossil-bearing samples. From a practical point of view, the method described in this book will particularly interest paleontologists and geologists who must construct zonations and establish correlations on the basis of bio- stratigraphic data that are both plentiful and apparently contra- dictory. It is...