Find more fossils in the right places.

Start with exposed sedimentary rock — river cuts, coastal cliffs, quarries, and road cuts — because fossils only occur where the right-aged layers reach the surface. FossilRadar maps those layers around your location and ranks nearby areas by how likely they are to produce finds. Our guide to the best places to find fossils near you covers what each site type produces.

It depends on the land, not the fossil. On most private land you need the owner's permission; on public land the rules vary by country and agency, and vertebrate fossils are usually protected even where invertebrates and plants may be collected. Always check local regulations before you dig.

It combines geological maps, rock age and type, terrain exposure, erosion patterns, and documented fossil records into a single potential score, then draws that as a heat layer on the map. It shows you where the geology is right — the walking and looking is still yours. The same reasoning is explained from the ground up in understanding rock layers and fossil formation.

Yes. Photograph the specimen and the AI returns the most likely identification with the group it belongs to, its approximate geological age, and background on the species. Clean, well-lit shots against a plain background with something for scale give the most reliable results.

Very little. Sturdy boots, safety glasses, a hand lens, newspaper or bubble wrap for wrapping finds, and a bag will cover a first trip. A geological hammer and chisel matter once you start working solid rock, but most beginner finds are picked up loose off the surface. See the 5 essential tools every fossil hunter needs for what to buy first.

Shells, ammonites, belemnites, crinoid stems, coral, shark teeth, and plant impressions are common in the right formations and often lie loose in scree or shingle. Dinosaur bone is rare and usually protected — the everyday finds are marine invertebrates, and they are what most collections are built from. Trilobites are one of the most recognisable starting points.

After storms, heavy rain, or winter frost, when fresh erosion has just uncovered new material. On coastal sites go on a falling tide and never at the base of an unstable cliff. Early morning low-angle light also makes surface fossils far easier to spot — the same timing that makes fossil hunting in riverbeds productive after high water drops.

Load the map area while you still have signal and the forecast layer stays available offline, which matters because the best sites are usually out of coverage. Identification runs in the cloud, so photos taken offline are queued and processed once you are back on a connection.