Photo Gallery (U.S. National Park Service)

Paleontologists use science, intuition, cutting-edge technology, and centuries-old techniques to discover and collect fossils in the field.

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the back of a woman wearing a straw hat and backpack with a pickax slung across her shoulders.

Win McLaughlin, GIP inter

2736 x 3648
3.4 MB

a young woman in a khaki uniform sits on a rocky cliff while looking through a hand loop at a piece of rock.

Lindsay Walker, GIP intern.

3000 x 4000
3.9 MB

a young woman in rain gear poses next to a rock with a 3 toed dinosaur track in it.

Amy Atwater, GIP intern

1250 x 1667
0.7 MB

a man in field clothes chisels at the side of rocky cliff with a set of excavation tools to the right of him.

Garrison Loope, GIP intern

1944 x 2592
2.7 MB

One person photographing fossils, one male making notes on a clipboard, and one female recording notes on a clipboard while standing and sitting on a wall of bones.

Mindy Homan, GIP intern

2736 x 3648
2.4 MB

a young man hovers over a spot on the rocky ground while using delicate excavating tools to look at fossils in the ground.

Levi Moxness, GIP intern

3000 x 4000
2.4 MB

a young woman bends over to take a closer look at a rock wall with a hand loop.

Katharine Loughney, GIP intern

3648 x 2736
5.2 MB

a young woman sits on a dirt edge and brushes off dirt from some rocks.

Cleaning fossils

2112 x 2816
1.0 MB

a young woman stands at the bottom of a wide hole and squirts some water on a fossil in a plaster jacket.

Cleaning a fossil

2848 x 4272
5.5 MB

a young woman takes notes while crouching by a canal filled with water and algae.

C&O Canal

3648 x 2736
5.0 MB

3 men stand outside and put plaster on a fossil.

Casting a fossil

1193 x 1724
2.4 MB

a young woman in a hat and jacket stands on the side of a rocky cliff and takes notes.

Collecting measurements

3968 x 2232
1.8 MB

a young woman lays on the ground while holding an air hose while a small child kneels next to her also holding an air hose.

Cleaning fossils

2048 x 3072
2.7 MB

a group of young people sit in a trench wearing safety vests and hard hats while taking notes.

Construction trench

768 x 1024
0.2 MB

a young woman in shorts and hiking boots sits on the side of a rocky cliff and wraps up fossils.

Collecting fossilized mollusks

1842 x 1474
2.4 MB

a young woman sits a picnic table and paints something white on a triangular slab of stone.

Creating a mold

2736 x 3648
2.3 MB

a young woman in a safety vest and hard hat kneels by a rock cliff while holding fossils.

Digging for fossils

4000 x 3000
3.7 MB

a young woman uses a flat hammer-like tool on a piece of rock outside.

Excavating fossils

2112 x 2112
3.5 MB

a man uses a mallet and plane to chip off a layer of limestone.

Examining limestone

1024 x 1536
0.5 MB

a young woman sits at bottom of a rocky hole and holds up a fossil.

Excavating for fossils

1707 x 1619
1.8 MB

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Tags

Paleontology Geology Fossils Fieldwork