Countries
Fossil Hunting Sites by Country
We document 353 sites across 20 countries. Collecting law varies more between countries than the geology does, so start with the rules and then pick the site.
The law matters more than the rock
Three broad regimes cover almost every country on this list. Some allow personal collecting of common loose material and restrict only scientifically important finds. Some require a permit for any collecting at all. Some treat every fossil as state property and prohibit export outright.
The third group is the one that catches visitors out. Mongolia and Brazil have both pursued international prosecutions over trafficked specimens. Buying a fossil from a roadside vendor in those countries can be a criminal matter, and it removes material that researchers need.
Even inside a permissive country the rules change with the land. A beach may allow collecting while the cliff above it does not, because the cliff is a protected site. Every site page on this website carries an access field, and that field is the one to read before you travel.
Europe
The longest history of organized collecting anywhere, and the most varied rules. England allows personal collecting of loose material on many beaches. Portugal treats every vertebrate fossil as state property. Read the country page before you plan a trip.
75 sites
United Kingdom
The British Isles are arguably the world's best-documented fossil hunting destination. From the Jurassic Coast cliffs of Dorset to the Carboniferous…
16 sites
Denmark
Denmark's fossil sites split into two distinct stories: the chalk-and-flint of Stevns Klint and Møns Klint (Late Cretaceous to Paleogene, including…
15 sites
Germany
Fossil hunting in Germany centres on the Jurassic limestones of the Solnhofen-Eichstätt-Holzmaden corridor — the formation that produced…
4 sites
Spain
Spain holds Europe's richest early-hominin record at the Sierra de Atapuerca, plus internationally important Cretaceous dinosaur tracksites in Teruel…
3 sites
Italy
Italy preserves world-class Eocene marine Lagerstätten in the Veneto, Triassic marine reptiles in the Lombard Pre-Alps, and Pleistocene megafauna…
1 site
Portugal
Portugal's Atlantic coast preserves one of Europe's richest Late Jurassic dinosaur records in the Lourinhã Formation, the cliffs and beaches between…
1 site
Belgium
Belgium's fossil heritage is anchored by the 1878 discovery of more than 30 articulated Iguanodon skeletons at the Bernissart coal mine — among the…
North America
Vast exposures and a clear legal split. On United States federal land, vertebrate fossils cannot be collected at all, while common invertebrates and plants usually can. Canada regulates at the provincial level, and Alberta is the strictest.
147 sites
United States
The contiguous US, Alaska, and the offshore territories cover almost every geological period from the Cambrian to the present. Each state's…
11 sites
Canada
Canada holds five UNESCO World Heritage fossil sites — more than almost any other country — plus two UNESCO Global Geoparks and a string of…
2 sites
Mexico
Mexico's deep-time record spans from Cambrian trilobites in Sonora to Mesozoic marine Lagerstätten in Puebla and Cretaceous dinosaur trackways in…
Africa and the Middle East
Morocco supplies much of the world's commercial trilobite and ammonite material, and its 2015 Mining Code requires a permit for collecting and trading. Buy from licensed dealers, keep receipts, and expect scrutiny at export.
25 sites
Morocco
Southern Morocco's Anti-Atlas and Drâa-Tafilalet regions are the world's most productive trilobite-collecting localities — the local economy in towns…
2 sites
Egypt
Egypt's Western Desert preserves the world's most important record of early whale evolution at Wadi Al-Hitan (Valley of the Whales), a UNESCO World…
2 sites
South Africa
South Africa's Karoo Basin holds the world's richest Permian–Triassic terrestrial fossil record, and the Cradle of Humankind north of Johannesburg…
Asia
Mongolia and China both treat fossils as state property with active enforcement, following international prosecutions for trafficking. Visit and photograph, but do not buy and do not collect.
8 sites
India
India preserves the full sweep of geological time — Mesoproterozoic stromatolites in the Vindhyan basins, Late Jurassic petrified forests in the Thar…
2 sites
China
Western Liaoning Province in northeast China preserves the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota — Yixian and Jiufotang formations that produced the world's…
1 site
Mongolia
The Mongolian Gobi Desert is one of the world's premier Late Cretaceous dinosaur regions — the Flaming Cliffs of Bayanzag yielded the first dinosaur…
Oceania
Australia regulates by state, and several fossil localities sit inside national parks or on Aboriginal land where permission is required. New Zealand protects fossils under its own heritage legislation.
30 sites
Australia
Australia preserves a uniquely deep paleontological record — from the 3.5-billion-year-old Pilbara stromatolites and the Ediacaran biota of Nilpena…
2 sites
New Zealand
New Zealand's geological history as part of the eastern Gondwanan margin produced some of the world's most accessible Jurassic petrified forests,…
South America
Argentina and Brazil both hold internationally important Mesozoic material and both restrict its collection and export. Brazil's Araripe Basin fossils in particular have been the subject of repatriation cases.
3 sites
Argentina
Argentina holds the most complete continental Triassic record on Earth at Ischigualasto Provincial Park, plus the Patagonian dinosaur beds that have…
3 sites
Brazil
Brazil's Cretaceous Araripe Basin in the northeast is one of the world's three or four most important fossil Lagerstätten — Crato and Romualdo…
Other ways to browse
The United States has its own index by state. You can also browse by fossil type or by geological period, and the regional guides give ranked shortlists for individual areas.