Unearthing Great Finds: Studying the Fossil Record(s)

When I’m out digging around in the dirt in the spring, I always think of all the searching I used to do for fossils when I was small. Of course, most of what I found were just fragments of seashells and fern fronds, but there are some really interesting things lying around in muddy creek beds and freshly plowed fields – and in our database!

Check out our natural history category, and you’ll find a number of “basic” fossils like sections of petrified wood and clamshell fossils. One of my favorite things (also very affordable) is the fossil of the little frog pictured above – he’s over 20 million years old! You’ll also find fossil fish, creatures in amber, and dinosaur toes. Of course if you have a little more room for a collection (or a little more money), you might think about a mastodon skull – this one is only 42 feet long. The sabre-toothed cat skeleton is a more compact 43 inches, if you’re looking to save space….