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Southwest Paleontological Society

Volunteer fossil society working with the Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa

Meets
2nd Tuesday of the month, 7 to 9 pm
Where
Museum research facility, NW corner of Pepper Pl and Macdonald St, Mesa
Interests
Paleontology and geology of the Southwest, mainly Arizona
Field work
Digs under the museum's permits, from one-day family outings to trips of several days
Lab work
Preparing fossils for the museum's exhibits and collections
Who can join
Adults and children; minors need an adult in the field and in the lab
The finds
Go to research and the museum collections, not home

Club with field trips for members

Based in Mesa, Arizona.

swpaleosociety.com ↗

Around here, the land is mostly private

Within 50 miles of Mesa our maps show no open public land to prospect. That is exactly why a club matters here: clubs have the landowner permissions, the leases and the know-how.

Nearest open public land on our fossil and meteorite map: about 75 miles away.

See the nearest open land on the fossil and meteorite map →

Prospecting and collecting rules in Arizona →

About Southwest Paleontological Society

The Southwest Paleontological Society is a volunteer group tied to the Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa. It was formed to help the museum collect, document and preserve fossils, and its members study the paleontology and geology of the Southwest, above all Arizona.

What sets it apart from a rock club is how the work is done. Members go out as trained citizen scientists under federal and state permits, following the scientists named on those permits, and they record not just the fossil but where and how it lay, which is what makes a find useful to science. Experienced paleontologists lead the group and teach members how to dig and how to handle fragile bone.

The work goes on in the lab, where members prepare specimens for the museum's exhibits and collections. Recent projects have included a Columbian mammoth, Rhynchotherium, an extinct relative of elephants, and Glyptotherium, a giant armored cousin of the armadillo, along with other mammals and invertebrates. The society's photo gallery also shows a dig at Chasm Creek.

Meetings are on the second Tuesday of the month from 7 to 9 pm in the museum's research facility, across the street from the museum at the north-west corner of Pepper Place and Macdonald Street, often with a specialist as speaker. Field trips happen during the year, from one-day family outings to digs of several days, and members are told ahead of time. Over the years the museum and the society have also hosted paleontology conferences together and published the research volumes that came out of them.

Membership is open to adults and children; minors must have an adult with them in the field and in the lab. No degree is needed, only interest.

There is a practical reason to join if fossils are your thing. On public land, the bones and teeth of vertebrates can only be collected under a permit, and they belong to the public, not to the finder. The museum is an official repository for fossils from state, BLM, national forest and Fish and Wildlife land, and the society is how an amateur can take part in that work legally. If you would rather keep what you find, look for invertebrate fossils and petrified wood on BLM land, where small amounts for personal use are allowed.

Other clubs and places nearby

Where to buy gear nearby

Sources