Macroborings are macroscopic trace fossils in hard substrates. They received little attention from palaeontologists until a renaissance in their ichnotaxonomy and paleoecological interpretation was led by Richard Bromley in the 1970s. Since then we have amassed detailed records of their stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental occurrences and have a better understanding of their diversity and classification. Macroborings have changed considerably in their types and abundances through the Phanerozoic as a function of various evolutionary events. They are thus important contributors to what we know about the ecological driving forces of evolution among marine organisms.