So you'd like to escape the stifling agony of modern life.

First, learn your trespassing and environmental laws.

Next, get a geological map.  Locate areas with sedimentary rock.

Done? Good. The best places to look for fossils erode quickly: coastlines, riverbanks, cliffs. Man-made quarries can be even better, provided you get permission from the quarry boss.

 

 

You will need:

    * Hammer
    * Newspaper (wrapping)
    * Chisel
    * Magnifying glass
    * Food and water
    * Cellphone
    * Map or local guide

 

 

On rivers, move upstream until you find large pieces of bone. Streams flowing from sites claimed by paleontologists are, obviously, good.

Coastlines have on-seasons and off-seasons. When rough seas remove layers of superfluous sand, exposing clay, it's on. When there's so much sand that all but the highest outcroppings are blanketed, it's off.  Get a tide chart.

Split rock delicately. Use a geology hammer or, better, a hammer and chisel.

Stop occasionally to marvel at the carbon cycle.

 

 

If it looks like a tire track, it's lycopod tree bark.

If it looks like a brain, it's a stromatoporoid.

If it looks like a trilobite, it's a trilobite.

For each example above, there is a counterexample. Fossil identification is a deep and wide ocean.

Look here for an excellent — and free — identification resource.

Show your find to the paleontology department at your local museum. Or plunder the local university library. Or study similar living creatures; follow the evolutionary chain from its base.



And if you'd like to sell or trade fossils?

God help you.

Identify finds thoroughly. Document their location and species. Don't trade based on aesthetics. Your fossil loses monetary and scientific value without accompanying info.  More simply, imagine that you're trading coins, and prepare yourself for the psychological and financial maneuvering entailed therein.  Decide after some time to collect fossils for fun instead.

297.

Sources

Experience.

Tegowski, BJ. Easy Field Guide to Invertebrate Fossils of California. Premier: Phoenix. 1995.

Discovering Fossils
http://www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/gettingstarted.htm

Earth Science
http://earthsci.org/fossils/youngp/how2/how1.htm

The Natural Canvas
http://members.aol.com/ncanvas2/NCWeb/FAQS/HowtoidentFAQ.html

Colossal Fossil Site
http://www.colossal-fossil-site.com/308-groups-index.htm

First Science
http://www.firstscience.com/site/articles/fossils.asp