eli5: Do you have to carve Fossils out of the stone or will they pop out in the form they are in, when the stone it split open?
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I’m not an archaeologist but I’ve been on a couple of fossil trips with an old professor of mine in East Tennessee, a hot spot for small marine fossils (used to be an ocean).
It’s a little bit of both in my admittedly little experience.
There will be cracks you can look for, edges of a shell, or something familiar- it takes a little bit of work to “get in the zone” and recognize patterns of what you’re looking for. *do research on the area you’re searching so you know what to expect* We we’re looking for sea urchins, nautiloids, maybe a starfish (personally) to take back to the lab and examine. Sometimes you can tap the fossil in rock at the right angle and it’ll split in half, then you can delicately chip away, and they have all sorts of dremel tools as well.
It’s definitely a skill set, I ruined several fossils trying to do it right.
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