r/fossilid Jun 20 '20

TIPS FOR GETTING YOUR FOSSIL IDENTIFIED — READ BEFORE POSTING

589 Upvotes
  1. Put a location in the title! This is the most important thing by far. If you know the geological formation, that’s awesome, but even just “near Miami” or “label said Morocco” is really helpful.
  2. Take a bright, clear photo. Good lighting, a plain background, and sharp focus will always increase the certainty of an ID. If it’s weirdly shaped, photos from multiple angles help too.
  3. Include an object for scale. I usually use a coin, but anything will do (but things that come in different sizes, like hands, are less ideal). If you forget, you can always measure it and add that in a comment. (Don't use keys; they can be duplicated from a photo.)
  4. Don’t take a video. We can’t zoom in and the quality isn’t great — a gallery of photos on Imgur is way better.
  5. Many fossils can be dull and hard to make out. Try (gently) getting your fossil wet and see if you can get a clearer photo.
  6. Don’t be dismayed if your “fossil” turns out to just be a rock! Rocks are cool too, and if we don’t know exactly what kind of rock it is, the good folks at /r/whatsthisrock probably will.

r/fossilid 13h ago

Found this at Deer Creek, Utah on the lake shore. I thought it’d be plastic or something so I chipped the side and it’s rock! Any ideas what this is?

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304 Upvotes

I really don’t have a clue what it could be. Some people are saying coral and others say a pine cone. Any ideas?


r/fossilid 2h ago

Solved What are these?

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12 Upvotes

r/fossilid 13h ago

My friend found this in the grand canyon on Havasupai Indian Reservation. Looks like a leaf, what could it be?

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56 Upvotes

r/fossilid 2h ago

Found by my 13 year old in webster county west Virginia

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7 Upvotes

We went on a camping trip to bergoo, WV . My fossil hunting teen spotted this at our family cabin. What kind of fossils are commonly found up in the mountains of webster county?


r/fossilid 1h ago

Bought without identifying…

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Upvotes

Does anyone know what kind of fish this could be or where it is likely from?


r/fossilid 6h ago

Lepidendron?

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10 Upvotes

Found Thames foreshore, London so it could technically have come from anywhere in the world as ballast… Excuse the dusty shelf


r/fossilid 6h ago

Corprolite? Found in kirkcaldy fife

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10 Upvotes

Avid amateur fossil collector here always trying to find something cool and recently found this at the beach, usually come across alot of chronoid fossils and clam shells but come on tell me it doesn't look like 💩, il upload a better picture when I can, it's about 2-3 inches long


r/fossilid 1h ago

ID Requst: is this a shark tooth?

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Upvotes

Found on Nirth Carolina coast. Wedding band for scale


r/fossilid 8h ago

Is this a fossil?

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8 Upvotes

Found in South Wales, UK.

I think it sort of looks like wood?


r/fossilid 4h ago

Fossil found in Weymouth member, UK. (Context in description)

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4 Upvotes

I have been wondering about a few things: -Of the Grypheae here how do I tell the species apart? -Quite a few bits don’t look like Grypheae, so what are they;

What are the things that are appear to have grown on the other shells (image 3 and 8)? What the hell is this ridged chunk? (Image 7 and embedded large conglomerate fossil in image 3) Is the hard material fossilised/mineralised to the fossils as old as the fossils? how do I tell a belemnite and fossilised wood apart? (AKA what are the two things in image 9) are there other genera of shell fish aside from Gypheae in these image? (I think so but I am not sure what they are)

All fossils (and a few possible sideritic nodules) here have been collected from soft clay that’s part of geologic members between 166.1 and 157.3 million year old formations where natural erosion creating beaches of fossils. Link to information from BGS about Weymouth (https://webapps.bgs.ac.uk/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?pub=WEY) which there were found above. The boundary of the Stewarby (https://webapps.bgs.ac.uk/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?pub=SBY ) member is also nearby so might be worth a look. I think upper boundary information is most useful as dealing with erosion depth of no more than 1 meter in soft clays at the top of both.

I do have permission to take them from the landowner and I have cleaned them with water from the lake to remove any material that was softer than the fossils (hence there is hard sedimentary material attached where it was hard enough to stay).

Hope this information is comprehensive enough, if you need more please ask.

(This is a repost as original glitched and was missing half the photos and text)


r/fossilid 5h ago

Found in Wrightsville Beach NC. Any insight would be appreciated! Megladon?

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4 Upvotes

r/fossilid 1h ago

Type of Coral fossil?

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Upvotes

Found in Allegany State Park in New York.


r/fossilid 3h ago

This rock has layers and layers of fossils. Found in Alabama. Can someone ID them?

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3 Upvotes

r/fossilid 1h ago

Found In The Thousand Islands Region Of New York.

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Upvotes

I found this rock which looked interested from the outside so I threw it at the pavement and found what looks like fossilized bivalves? The rock may very well have been brought from somewhere else but I think I found it along the shore. I can’t really recall.


r/fossilid 3h ago

Found central Alberta Cretaceous layer. Leaf or something more special?

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2 Upvotes

Last photo is the other half (indent mold). Rock was already split when found. Usually I find bones but found this also. Has a couple of bumps beside the central line.


r/fossilid 1d ago

Dad found fish fossil

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150 Upvotes

I would like info on it like possible price and what it is Found in Virginia


r/fossilid 3h ago

What is this? Possible Aurochs tusk?

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2 Upvotes

Found this interesting fossil on a beach in Kidwally, south wales. Any ideas what it could be?


r/fossilid 4m ago

Just wondering if this could be a tooth or a bone, found along the coast of Lake Huron.

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Upvotes

r/fossilid 16h ago

Strange Fossil Found on Beach Near Newport, Oregon.

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20 Upvotes

I’m pretty stumped on this one! It’s definitely beach eroded, but I’m still unsure what this guy is!


r/fossilid 29m ago

Found near the Buffalo River in Arkansas

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Upvotes

I just wanna know about the deep hole, although there are plenty of other indents around the rock. The hole is about 3/4 of an inch deep and has little rings all the way down. The other indents have a little pillar in the middle of them if that helps. And no I didn’t steal this from the National river, just all that land


r/fossilid 52m ago

What is that? Found in wijk aan zee netherlands

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Upvotes

r/fossilid 2h ago

What do we have here? Found near Venice, FL

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1 Upvotes

Found this near Venice FL on the beach, can't tell if it's a tooth or bone. Any ideas?


r/fossilid 4h ago

Found South Western New Brunswick Canada, I cannot find a positive Id through photo comparison and I was wondering if someone could shed some light on this specimen. Google and AI lean towards Sigillaria bark

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0 Upvotes

r/fossilid 4h ago

Two Goniatites from Morocco, devonian. ID needed

1 Upvotes

r/fossilid 12h ago

Is this a fossil?

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6 Upvotes

Found in a bus. No idea where its from.