Regional guides
Fossil Hunting Guides by Region
Ranked site lists, geology primers, collecting rules, and practical logistics for the most productive fossil hunting regions in the world.
Start here · National guide
Best Places to Fossil Hunt in the United States
Fifteen sites ranked: free shark-tooth beaches, $0 trilobite parks, and pay-to-dig quarries, with collecting rules and the best season for each, plus a link to the state index behind every entry.
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7 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Dorset
Charmouth, Kimmeridge, Seatown, Worth Matravers, and more on the Jurassic Coast UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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8 Best Fossil Hunting Sites on the Yorkshire Coast
Whitby, Saltwick Bay, Robin Hood's Bay, Runswick, Staithes, Cayton, Reighton, and Speeton — 65 million years of Jurassic geology.
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7 Best Fossil Hunting Sites on the Isle of Wight
Europe's highest concentration of named dinosaur species, across Compton Bay, Yaverland, Brighstone, Brook Bay, and more.
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7 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Florida
Shark teeth at Venice and Caspersen Beach, megalodon in the Peace River, and Miocene megafauna in Bone Valley.
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7 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Ohio
Ordovician trilobites, brachiopods, and crinoids at Caesar Creek, Hueston Woods, Oakes Quarry, and five more southwest Ohio parks.
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7 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Bavaria
Solnhofen limestone pay-to-dig quarries in the Altmühltal — the formation that produced Archaeopteryx and the world's best Jurassic Lagerstätte.
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8 Best Fossil Sites in California
La Brea Tar Pits, Shark Tooth Hill, Cabrillo National Monument, and five more California fossil destinations from the Cambrian to the Pleistocene.
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8 Best Fossil Hunting Sites for Kids and Families
Family-friendly sites across the UK and US where children can find and keep real fossils — ammonites at Charmouth and Whitby, shark teeth at Venice Beach, trilobites in Ohio — no permits required.
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7 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Wales
From Ordovician graptolite slates at Abereiddy Bay to Jurassic ammonites on the Glamorgan Heritage Coast — Wales spans more geological time than any comparable stretch of British coastline.
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Bay Area Fossil Hunting Guide
Where to go fossil hunting near San Francisco — Capitola Beach, Mt Diablo, Half Moon Bay, Bolinas Lagoon, Rincon Point, and Jalama Beach. Miocene and Pliocene marine sites within driving distance of the Bay Area.
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7 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Texas
Texas fossil sites run from Permian reef limestone to a Pleistocene mammoth herd. Seven guides to shark teeth, Eocene shells, and dinosaur trackways.
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6 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Utah
Utah holds Cambrian trilobite quarries, Jurassic dinosaur bone beds and the Utahraptor badlands. Six sites, plus the BLM rule on what you may keep.
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5 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Wyoming
Wyoming's Green River quarries near Kemmerer let you split out Eocene fish and keep them. Five sites, from Fossil Butte to the Lance Formation badlands.
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6 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Washington
Washington fossil sites run from pay-to-dig Eocene leaves at Stonerose to petrified wood at Ginkgo and crab-bearing concretions on the Puget Sound shore.
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5 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania fossil sites, from the white pyrophyllite ferns of St. Clair and the Ambridge coal-forest roadcut to free Devonian digging at Montour Preserve.
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5 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Colorado
Colorado fossil sites, from the Dinosaur Ridge trackways and the 1877 Morrison quarries to Eocene insects at Florissant and pay-to-dig shale next door.
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8 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Australia
Australia's best fossil sites, from Naracoorte Caves megafauna and Lark Quarry dinosaur tracks to free shark-tooth collecting on the Beaumaris Bay foreshore.
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8 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Morocco
Morocco's best fossil localities, from the Erfoud orthoceras quarries and Alnif trilobite mines to the Kem Kem dinosaur beds and free Ziz Gorge echinoids.
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8 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Canada
Canada's best fossil sites, from the Joggins Coal Age cliffs and the Burgess Shale to Dinosaur Provincial Park and souvenir collecting at Rock Glen, Ontario.
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8 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Denmark
Belemnites at Stevns Klint and Rødvig, Paleocene corals at Faxe, Eocene fish on Fur and megalodon teeth at Gram: eight Danish fossil sites, ranked.
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5 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Baden-Württemberg
Posidonia Shale Klopfplatz yards at Dotternhausen, Dormettingen and Ohmden, plus Holzmaden and the Nusplingen Plattenkalk: five Swabian Alb sites, ranked.
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8 Best Fossil Hunting Sites in Scotland
Devonian fish at Achanarras and Thurso, Ordovician starfish at Lady Burn, Jurassic ammonites at Helmsdale and Skye: eight Scottish fossil sites, ranked.
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7 Best Fossil Sites in India
Seven protected Indian fossil parks, from 1.4-billion-year-old stromatolites at Salkhan to titanosaur nests at Jabalpur and Raiyoli. All are viewing only.
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7 Best Fossil Sites in China
Seven protected Chinese fossil localities, from the Cambrian biota at Chengjiang to the feathered dinosaurs of Sihetun. Collecting is illegal at every one.
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6 Best Fossil Sites in Spain
Spain's dinosaur footprint trails at Enciso, Galve and La Griega, the Las Hoyas lake beds near Cuenca, and the Atapuerca hominin caves. All viewing only.
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6 Best Fossil Sites in France
The Vaches Noires clay cliffs, Cretaceous chalk at Cap Blanc-Nez, the Digne ammonite slab, the La Robine ichthyosaur, Plagne's sauropod trackway and Angeac.
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