Where are fossils found?

Excavating fossil kangaroos at Morwell Open Cut. Photographer: Chris Tassell. Source: Museum Victoria.

Fossils can be found in road cuttings, quarries, cliff faces, river valleys and seashores-even in such places as building sites. Palaeontologists (and other fossil hunters) can recognise sedimentary rocks that are likely to contain fossils of a particular period. Background research plays a large part in knowing where to look, but luck plays a major role as well.

When a site has been identified as being a possible site for fossils, and perhaps excavated with some success, similar rock formations may be sought in other localities.