Fossil hunting in Alabama: where to find fossils
Good news: Alabama has fossils waiting to be found. We've mapped 12 places where fossils have been recorded. Access differs from spot to spot: some are on public land, others are road cuts or river bluffs reached from public roads and landings. Each site page explains how to get there and what you can take home.
Alabama is one of the best fossil states in the East. For tens of millions of years, from the age of dinosaurs to the age of the first whales, much of the southern half of the state lay under a warm, shallow sea, and its chalks, sands and marls are packed with oysters, shells and shark teeth. Most of the land is private, so your way in is the road cuts, river bluffs and guided trips on our map, plus the state's two paleontological societies.
See all 12 spots on the Alabama map
How to read the map
- Green: a recorded spot with no active mining claim. Open its page for access and collecting rules.
Bones and teeth (vertebrate fossils) are protected on federal land: there, leave them in place and report them. Elsewhere the rules depend on the landowner: each site page says what applies.
A whale, a tyrannosaur and a forest of footprints
Alabama's state fossil is a whale. Basilosaurus cetoides was a primitive toothed whale that swam the shallow sea over southern Alabama some 40 to 34 million years ago and grew to around 60 feet. Its first bones turned up in Clarke County in the 1830s. In 1834 the naturalist who described them thought they belonged to a giant reptile and named the animal Basilosaurus, the "king lizard". The name stuck, even after it turned out to be a whale. Two of the most complete skeletons ever found come from Alabama: one is at the McWane Science Center in Birmingham, the other at the Smithsonian. It became the state fossil in 1984, and by law no Basilosaurus fossil may leave Alabama without the written approval of the governor.
In July 1982 an Auburn University geologist, David King, found dinosaur bones in a small hill next to a county road in Montgomery County. It took until 2005 for scientists to realize what it was: a new tyrannosaur, a smaller and more primitive cousin of T. rex. They named it Appalachiosaurus montgomeriensis, the Appalachian lizard from Montgomery. It's the most complete tyrannosaur ever found in eastern North America, and you can see it at the McWane Science Center.
In 1999 a high school science teacher from Oneonta heard about fossils from one of his students, whose grandmother owned a coal mine near Jasper. He went to look, split a rock and found the tracks of an amphibian that walked there about 310 million years ago. The old Union Chapel Mine turned out to be the richest source of footprints of its age in the world: amphibians, reptiles, fish fins, horseshoe crabs, insect larvae. The mine was due to be filled in, but local collectors fought to save it, and in 2005 it became the Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site, managed by the Alabama Paleontological Society.
A few curiosities
- No megalodon tooth has ever been found in Alabama: the rocks from its time are missing here. The shark teeth you will find are older and smaller, mostly from goblin sharks, crow sharks and mackerel sharks of the age of dinosaurs.
- Shark Tooth Creek, near Aliceville, is about 300 miles from the nearest beach.
- According to the Birmingham Paleontological Society, the state fossil law is the only law in Alabama written specifically for fossils. Everything else depends on who owns the land.
Meteorites in Alabama
Alabama has 19 officially recognized meteorites. The most famous fell on November 30, 1954, near Sylacauga: a piece crashed through a roof and hit Ann Hodges, who was napping on her couch. That stone is on display at the Alabama Museum of Natural History in Tuscaloosa, the same museum that runs the summer fossil trips.
Then there is the Wetumpka Impact Crater, made by an asteroid that hit a shallow sea about 85 million years ago. It's more than 5 miles wide and one of the best-preserved marine impact craters in America. There's nothing to collect, but there's plenty to see: a Discovery and Visitors Center at 124 Company Street in downtown Wetumpka (open Thursday to Saturday when we checked: confirm before you go), a self-guided driving tour with signs at the viewpoints, and guided van tours with geologists every year in late winter, by reservation.
On November 6, 2025, a fireball over northwest Alabama dove so steeply that NASA thinks it dropped meteorites on the ground. As far as we know, none has been found yet. Why no meteorite spots on our map? All of Alabama's known meteorites were picked up long ago, mostly on private land, and there's no proven strewn field open to the public. In national forests, meteorites are protected and can't be collected.
Where the fossils are
- The Black Belt, the band of dark soil that crosses west and central Alabama: Late Cretaceous chalk with oysters, ammonites, shark teeth and the bones of mosasaurs, the giant sea lizards of the age of dinosaurs.
- East Alabama (Russell, Bullock and Barbour counties): Cretaceous sands with big oysters like Exogyra, and shark teeth.
- Southwest Alabama (Clarke, Monroe and Choctaw counties): Eocene sands and marls with beautifully preserved shells, and the home of the state whale.
- North Alabama, around Huntsville: Mississippian limestone with crinoid stems, brachiopods and blastoids.
- Coal country (Walker and Jefferson counties): plant fossils and trackways in the rock piles of old strip mines, almost all on private land.
Fossils on our map
- Road cuts: from field-trip reports and an older rockhounding guide. Road cuts change, and some may be overgrown or gone: each page says how old its source is. The pin is calculated from the written directions, so look along the road nearby.
- River bluffs on the Tombigbee, the Alabama River and the Conecuh: classic exposures that show only when the water is low. The banks are mostly private, so they're usually reached from the water or from public landings.
- Stars: Shark Tooth Creek, a family farm with guided hunts, and the Alabama Museum of Natural History, with guided summer trips from Tuscaloosa.
- Clubs: the Alabama Paleontological Society runs the Minkin footprint site, and with the Birmingham Paleontological Society it organizes trips to Harrell Station, a University of Alabama site not open to the public.
The rules
- Private land: most of Alabama is private. Always get the owner's permission first.
- National forests (Talladega, Bankhead, Tuskegee and Conecuh): common invertebrate and plant fossils in reasonable amounts, for your own collection. Vertebrate fossils, including bones and teeth, need a federal permit. No selling.
- Army Corps of Engineers land around the locks and lakes on the Tombigbee, Alabama and Black Warrior rivers: removing fossils is prohibited without written permission.
- State parks: collecting is not allowed.
- Basilosaurus: if you think you've found whale bones, leave them and contact the Alabama Museum of Natural History. They can't leave the state without the governor's approval.
- Road cuts: never stop on an interstate, park well off the pavement, and stay off fenced land.
Tips for Alabama fossil hunters
- Go after a good rain, when fresh fossils wash out of the chalk gullies and creek beds.
- For shark teeth, bring a screen to sift creek gravel, and a small bag or a pill bottle for your finds.
- Rivers are lowest in late summer and fall: that's when the bluffs show best.
- The Black Belt is hot and full of ticks in summer: spring and fall are the comfortable seasons.
- Join a club. Members know the spots, and some of the best sites are open only on their trips.
Easy places to start in Alabama
These places welcome visitors. A great way to start, especially if it's your first time.
- Alabama Museum of Natural History Fossil Excursions · Fee dig · Tuscaloosa · Season: Summer
- Shark Tooth Creek · Fee dig · Aliceville · Season: April to October, by appointment
Join a fossil club in Alabama
Clubs are the best shortcut: members share their know-how and their favorite spots, and many organize trips or have their own claims you can work once you join.
- Alabama Paleontological Society · Club field trips · Birmingham
- Birmingham Paleontological Society · Club field trips · Hoover
- Harrell Station Paleontological Site · Club field trips · Marion Junction
What people find in Alabama
Snails (7 spots), Clams (7 spots), Oysters (6 spots), Shark teeth (5 spots), Marine fossils (1 spot), Sea urchins (1 spot), Ammonites (1 spot), Crinoids (1 spot), Brachiopods (1 spot), Blastoids (1 spot), Fish (1 spot), Marine reptiles (1 spot)
Questions we often get
Where can I go fossil hunting in Alabama?
The easiest way to start is a place that welcomes visitors, like Alabama Museum of Natural History Fossil Excursions and Shark Tooth Creek.
Are there fossil clubs in Alabama?
Yes: Alabama Paleontological Society, Birmingham Paleontological Society and Harrell Station Paleontological Site. Joining a club is the fastest way to learn.