Things You'll Need:
- Knee pads
- Work gloves
- Wide-brimmed hat
- Bandana
- Sunscreen (SPF 30 or above)
- Insect spray
- Field first-aid kit
- Lightweight hiking boots
- Camera
- Trowel
- Small soft-bristled brush
- Sealable plastic bags
- Marker pens
- String
- Tent stakes
- Twine, nylon
- Trowel
- Rock hammer
- Backpack or knapsack
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Step 1
Equip yourself for comfort. Bear in mind that finding fossils is a lengthy, arduous task. You will spend more time searching than you will spend digging. (An expedition in a six-month "field season" may turn up nothing.) Wear hard-shelled knee pads, the kind that roofers wear, so that you can crawl on rough earth for hours at a time. Wear work gloves. The dust and sifting will cause your skin to dry. Slather your neck and any exposed skin (and on occasion, your hands) with sunscreen and wear a wide-brimmed hat to shield your ears and neck. Bring a 2 qt. canteen and enough lemonade or powdered juice mix to make the local water drinkable. Use insect spray, liberally, as needed.
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Step 2
Wear loose-fitting, long-sleeve cotton shirts and long pants. While it is tempting to wear shorts and T-shirts in warmer climes, you will find the sun and dust on your skin extremely drying and injurious. Wear lightweight hiking boots, broken in. If you are in the field for several days or hours, these must be perfectly comfortable, and cause you no blisters or joint pain, which will keep you from your dig.
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Step 3
Pack a digital camera and enough batteries and memory cards for at least 1,000 photos. You will snap photos of your finds alongside something, for example, your rock hammer, a coin or a pencil.
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Step 4
Bring the archaeologist's full complement of tools: a spade, rock hammer, trowel and a whisk broom or even a toothbrush. You will use the spade and rock hammer only for gross work. When it comes time to free a fossil, you will do the bulk of your work with your brushes.
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Step 5
Bring tent spikes and plenty of strong twine. You will use these where you dig and snap photos for reference. Bring an empty knapsack when you go into the field, leaving room for your finds. Pack sealable sandwich bags, and a handful of pens that write on plastic. You will use these to "bag and tag" your finds by their location, date and time. This will enable you to return to the exact spot the next day to find the rest of the creature you've discovered.
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Step 6
Treat even the most minor wounds as serious, and use disinfectants. Early field scientists would voluntarily submit to appendectomies and tooth extractions to avoid medical emergencies in the field. You will be injured, through cuts, insect bites and minor burns. Treat even the most minor wounds as serious to avoid an infection that requires you leaving the field.
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Step 7
Exercise, as needed, for field conditions. In questionnaires for applicants to its scientific field studies, Earthwatch describes the conditions and strongly encourages applicants to exercise on hill-climbing machines and long hikes, rather than find themselves unable to participate in the field studies. If you expect to climb, hike and swim, condition yourself for those situations.
