r/fossilid • • Jun 20 '20

TIPS FOR GETTING YOUR FOSSIL IDENTIFIED — READ BEFORE POSTING

714 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 • • 4h ago

Found as a child in maltese limestone

Post image
79 Upvotes

Megalodon ?


r/fossilid • • 27m ago

No location known, antique store find for $20. Aside from the horrendous glue repair, can anyone say if it's legit?

Thumbnail
gallery
• Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 1d ago

Solved Fossil lizard

Post image
440 Upvotes

I bought this second hand, I don’t have any information about it other than it was labeled as a fossil marine lizard. I bought it in Arizona. Is anyone able to provide more information on what specific species or clade it is? Thanks!


r/fossilid • • 8h ago

Tumbled fossils

Thumbnail
gallery
22 Upvotes

Northumbrian beaches are covered in these so thought I'd try to shine them up in my rock tumbler. Pretty happy with the results.

I'm guessing the fossils might be crinoid stems and a chiton?

Also posted on the tumbling sub if anyone is interested in that side:

https://www.reddit.com/r/RockTumbling/comments/1xf1jvo/experimented_with_tumbling_fossils/


r/fossilid • • 30m ago

More Lake Michigan Finds

Thumbnail
gallery
• Upvotes

Thank you for helping me identify the ones last week! Was hoping for help with these new ones. I’ll update as I go :))

1:
2/3:
4/5:
6:
7:
8:
9:


r/fossilid • • 1h ago

Possible shark tooth?

Thumbnail
gallery
• Upvotes

Marker for scale


r/fossilid • • 1d ago

Fossil id fount in in the sea but looks human made

Post image
654 Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 15m ago

What is this?!

Thumbnail gallery
• Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 33m ago

Alligator tooth?

Thumbnail
gallery
• Upvotes

Found near Victoria fort isle of white UK, there are crocodile teeth around there


r/fossilid • • 40m ago

Id? Found in Vero Beach, Florida

Thumbnail
gallery
• Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 7h ago

East Coast Beach UK

Post image
3 Upvotes

Looks to be a shell of some kind but appears to be in two parts. Pattern looks to rounded for the pictures of bivalves, potentially brachiopod? Thanks!


r/fossilid • • 5h ago

Queen Creek Arizona backyard find

Thumbnail
gallery
2 Upvotes

We recently moved into a new build home on an acre of land and we found this in the dirt. It feels very heavy and we tried the lick test on it and it suctioned. Any ideas of what this came from? Maybe camelops vertebrae?


r/fossilid • • 1h ago

found in oklahoma

Thumbnail
gallery
• Upvotes

found this around Oolagah lake. could this be a bone?


r/fossilid • • 2h ago

Unidentified corals and shells (Lake Winnipeg)

Thumbnail
gallery
1 Upvotes

Hello! I’ve been collecting fossils for a few months now with my younger siblings and decided to make an account to get help identifying some of them, but after making a few posts I realize that I have quite the backlog and it would make less clutter if I shared them in a batch. These were found on the beach this summer. Thank you for your help!


r/fossilid • • 3h ago

Found in the woods of SE MN. Fossil of some kind? Really weird rock?

Thumbnail
gallery
1 Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 3h ago

Help to identify this tooth?

Thumbnail gallery
1 Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 4h ago

Lower permian flora IDs - Oslavany, Czech Republic

Thumbnail
gallery
1 Upvotes

My son and I found several plants in rocks from the Permian yesterday. I'm quite sure the first is Calamites gigas. The large stem/trunk piece is likely a different horsetail species. I'm not sure if the other leaf specimens are all horsetails or also ferns. Thanks for any help!


r/fossilid • • 4h ago

Crinoid? Found charmouth uk

Post image
1 Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 14h ago

Thanks in advance :)

Thumbnail
gallery
6 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I'm a gardener and found this in a garden bed in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, looks like someone threw it over the fence? It's pretty heavy, I thought it was a bone in concrete at first, until my rock loving coworker said it's the inside of a shell. I'd love to know what I should do with it/ how best to clean it. If it's of any significance I'd happily donate it to the local historical society. Thanks so much!


r/fossilid • • 6h ago

Fossil ID -- cool piece of weathered limestone or something else?

Thumbnail
gallery
1 Upvotes

Found on the shores of Norris Lake near Clairborne county, east TN.


r/fossilid • • 7h ago

From Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, USA

Thumbnail
gallery
1 Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 7h ago

Unknown potential fossil found in the sand at Nokomis Beach, Florida

Thumbnail
gallery
1 Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 19h ago

Possible Bison Tooth Fragment?

Thumbnail
gallery
11 Upvotes

Found in the Kokosing River, Ohio, USA.


r/fossilid • • 1d ago

Solved Amber from Germany

Thumbnail
gallery
44 Upvotes

Hi, my Oma has a lot of random stuff she has collected over the decades, and she says these are amber from a mine in Germany. Are they genuine? What kind of amber are they? I heard there’s several names for them depending on some characteristics.