How to Collect Fossils

Follow the Fossil Collector's Code when collecting your treasures - get permission, use the right equipment, do it safely and leave some for others.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Spray Glues
• Aleene's Tacky Glue
• Paintbrushes (old)
• Film
• Point-and-shoot Cameras
• Cold Chisels
• Collapsible Shovel
• Safety Glasses
• Specialty Hammers
• Trowels

1. Research the area by going to the local museum and looking at its collection, studying geology maps at the library, and talking to local fossil collectors.
2. Get permission to hunt a site once you locate one.
3. Pack the correct equipment. See "eHow to Create a Fossil Collectors Kit" under the Related eHows.
4. Tell someone where you will be searching and, if you are searching the beach, check to see when high tide will be.
5. Make a note or take a photograph of the fossil before you remove it from its location.
6. Wear safety glasses when chipping at a rock surface.
7. Remove larger pieces of rock encasing the fossil with larger tools such as a pick or shovel, if needed.
8. Use smaller tools such as trowels, small hammers, brushes and dental tools to remove the last 2-3 inches of rock around the fossil. You can do more detailed cleanup at home.
9. Brush on or spray on clear glue if the fossil is crumbling as you try to remove it.
10. Label the fossil with the location and how it was located in the rock bed or beach.
11. Wrap the fossil in burlap or paper towels and pack in a box or bag to transport it home.

Tips & Warnings

• Good fossil-hunting places are old quarries, the beach at low tide, cliffs along a stream or the sea, plowed fields and where a road was cut through the side of a hill.
• Search safely - if a place looks dangerous or gives you a bad feeling, search somewhere else.