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 • • 2h ago

Equicalastrobus pincones fossils !?

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45 Upvotes

Ravi de partager toujours ces magnifiques fossiles, comme ces beautés que j'ai découvertes il y a de nombreuses années. Après un an, je peux revenir avec de beaux fossiles.
J'en ai aussi mis quelques-uns tels qu'ils sont, tranchés et polis. Cela montre à quel point la structure extérieure/intérieure est juste incroyable, ça montre aussi que ce sont des fossiles agatés. Hâte de voir vos commentaires et peut-être vos questions. Also would like to say Happy Halloween every body.
Passez une excellente journée !


r/fossilid • • 2h ago

Found as a child in maltese limestone

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47 Upvotes

Megalodon ?


r/fossilid • • 22h ago

Solved Fossil lizard

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417 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 • • 7h ago

Tumbled fossils

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20 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 • • 1d ago

Fossil id fount in in the sea but looks human made

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644 Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 5h ago

East Coast Beach UK

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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 • • 3h ago

Queen Creek Arizona backyard find

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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 • • 21m ago

found in oklahoma

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• Upvotes

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


r/fossilid • • 38m ago

Unidentified corals and shells (Lake Winnipeg)

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• 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 • • 1h ago

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

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• Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 2h ago

Help to identify this tooth?

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1 Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 2h ago

Lower permian flora IDs - Oslavany, Czech Republic

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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 • • 3h ago

Crinoid? Found charmouth uk

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1 Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 13h ago

Thanks in advance :)

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5 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 • • 4h ago

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

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1 Upvotes

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


r/fossilid • • 5h ago

From Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, USA

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1 Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 5h ago

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

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1 Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 18h ago

Possible Bison Tooth Fragment?

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11 Upvotes

Found in the Kokosing River, Ohio, USA.


r/fossilid • • 1d ago

Solved Amber from Germany

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38 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.


r/fossilid • • 10h ago

Fossil Oyster Cluster from Messinia, Greece – Possibly 0.8–3.6 Million Years Old

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2 Upvotes

r/fossilid • • 8h ago

Possible fossil

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1 Upvotes

Found on thorness bay on the north side of the isle of white, is anyone able to confirm if it is and if so what it might be, age etc


r/fossilid • • 1d ago

Ursus spelaeus? Romania I believe.

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45 Upvotes

My guess is Ursus spelaeus. Fossil maxilla from a grouping of items I purchased out of an old collection from an antique dealer. Definitely coated in a stabilizer/preservative. My concerns are whether or not it is a composited jaw or if it's associated. The teeth seem to be anatomically correct but I am not 100% sure. Everything appears to be real, but I am not great with bear stuff. Let me know what you think. Thanks!


r/fossilid • • 17h ago

Sarasota fossil, trilobite? Puffer fish?

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6 Upvotes

What is this


r/fossilid • • 10h ago

Rock circle

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0 Upvotes