I believe the joy of fossil hunting should be universally accessible.
BUT…
Fossil sites are hard to find, due to a combination of inadequate online resources and outdated sources. California has some of the most rich fossil sites in the country but most of them are unknown or little known. Many sites haven’t been updated in over a decade and make it difficult to find a fossil hunting site near you without knowing the exact name of the site you’re looking for. And it’s hard to share your own finds without making your own website or making an account within an online forum.
Our Solution:
California Fossils is a crowd-sourced platform :
- to locate new sites in California
- to share your own and give back to the fossil hunting community
- to learn more about the paleontology and geology behind your finds
California Fossils focuses on hosting a user-friendly interface and a flexible platform where your finds can be published almost instantly. However, we realize that increased traffic to fossil sites leads to erosion and degradation of sites, which is why we strongly recommend not removing fossils and leaving them where they have been found for others.
I grew up loving dinosaurs as a kid, and later paleontology, geology, and fossils in general. The site was created out of a realization in 2016 that information on fossil sites, particularly in California, was hard to access and that there wasn’t a comprehensive database of fossil sites.
Fossils are exciting because they connect us to our paleontological history. It helps us understanding ourselves better and where we came from — why we look the way we do and function the way we do. To me, fossil hunting connected me to our curiosity to understand the world and our place in it. I continue to update and grow this site regularly and hope you enjoy it!