Fossil Collecting

Fossil Collecting, sometimes called fossil hunting in non-scientific usage, is the collection of fossils for scientific study, hobby or profit. As practiced by amateurs it is the historical predecessor of modern paleontology, and many amateurs today still collect and study fossils alongside professional paleontologists, with both groups valuing fossils for their scientific value. A long-standing commercial trade in fossils exists as well, though some of that trade is conducted illegally, particularly where it involves fossils removed from protected land or exported against a country's antiquities laws. The hobby is distinct from the broader amateur practice of rockhounding, which centers on rocks and minerals generally, in that fossil collecting focuses specifically on the preserved remains and traces of ancient organisms.