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How to Search for Fossil Bones

When organisms die, their remains are sometimes preserved as fossils. You do not have to be a trained scientist to find fossils in nature; many hobbyists enjoy fossil-hunting and most of them will find many specimens. Fossil bones can be the most exciting finds because extinct animals tantalize the imagination. Fossil bones are among the rarest of finds. so you must know where to look. Fossils form in sedimentary rock, which is rock formed by the compression of layers of silt, sand and other minerals. Searching for fossils begins with searching for sedimentary rock.

Things You'll Need

Area maps
Hiking gear
Weather-appropriate clothes

Instructions

- 1
  Find a site with exposed sedimentary rock. Ask people at a local rock club or museum if they know of any good sites with exposed sedimentary rock that you could search for fossils. They might even tell you about sites that have yielded fossils before. If they do not suggest a good site in your area, you can search for fossils where rock has been cut, like road or railway cuts, construction excavation sites, mine dumps and rock quarries. Natural exposures and creek or river banks are good as well.
- 2
  Start searching at the lowest elevation in your site. Look first for small fragments of bone; they will often form a trail that leads to a larger piece of bone. Where possible, search creek and river beds.
- 3
  Work your way up the exposed rock walls and look for angular shapes that resemble bones or bone-fragments jutting from the stone.

Fossil Collecting