Prehistoric life
Fossil hunting is enjoyed by amateurs and professionals alike. In fact, palaeontology is one of the few sciences where amateurs have made - and continue to make - important new discoveries. Professional collectors include both those who collect fossils to study and those who collect them to sell. In both cases, there is often a lot of hard work to excavate the fossil and prepare it for display, sometimes hundreds of hours. That - and their rarity - explains why some fossils are worth fantastic amounts of money.
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Shark fossils
Today's sharks are streamlined versions of successful prehistoric predecessors.
Today's sharks are streamlined versions of successful prehistoric predecessors.
Jurassic mini-mammals
You can trip across a dinosaur skeleton, but how do you find tiny mammal fossils?
Dr Guillermo Rougier of the American Museum of Natural History describes how tiny mammal fossils are a lot harder to find than huge dinosaur bones. This programme was first shown in 2002.
Dinosaur graveyard
Palaeontologists unearth a mid-Jurassic 'time machine' in Argentina.
Palaeontologists Dr Oliver Rauhut and Dr Adriana Lopez-Arbarello go on an expedition to Argentina to find a Mid-Jurassic fossil treasure trove - an almost complete ecosystem from a missing period in dinosaur evolution. This programme was first shown in 2002.
Casting in cavities
Simon King goes hunting for fossils in Bristol's newest shopping mecca.
Simon King goes hunting for fossils in Bristol's newest shopping mecca.
Washed out
The Severn Bore cuts through rocks to reveal a fossil treasure trove.
The Severn Bore cuts through rocks to reveal a fossil treasure trove. This programme was first shown in 1997.
Body fossils are the preserved remains of the actual body parts of an animal or plant such as a skeleton or a pollen grain. Trace fossils are the remains of ancient activity, such as the burrow left by a worm or a stone tool made by a prehistoric person. Some fossils preserve original features in exquisite detail, while others are much cruder remnants.
If you were able to travel back far in time, you'd find Earth to be a very different place - at times a giant hot molten ball of rock, at others a frozen planet completely covered in snow and ice. During its long history, Earth has been covered by habitats and experienced climates that no longer exist. Discover more about these and about the dramatic story of ancient Earth.
Fossil collecting (some times, in a non-scientific sense, fossil hunting) is the collection of fossils for scientific study, hobby, or profit. Fossil collecting, as practiced by amateurs, is the predecessor of modern paleontology and many still collect fossils and study fossils as amateurs. Professionals and amateurs alike collect fossils for their scientific value.
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