Where to Dig

Looking for fossils usually involves a lot more walking than digging. There are two basic kinds of fossil collecting prospecting and quarrying. When you first begin the search for fossils, you start by prospecting. You have to search for clues that hint at where a fossilized dinosaur skeleton might be buried.

Prospecting involves walking over promising ridges, flats, and ravines while looking for small fragments of fossil bone sticking out of the rock layers on the surface of the ground. Whole days can be spent prospecting for fossils without ever digging out a single specimen.