page_title: Fossil collecting
hierarchical_section_title: Fossil collecting
caption_attribution_description: College of Wooster students collecting fossils; Ordovician of Indiana.
context_page_description: Fossil collecting is the collection of fossils for scientific study, hobby, or profit. Fossil collecting, as practiced by amateurs, is the predecessor of modern paleontology and many still collect fossils and study fossils as amateurs. Professionals and amateurs alike collect fossils for their scientific value. A commercial trade in fossils has also long existed, with some of this being practised illegally.
context_section_description: Fossil collecting (sometimes, in a non-scientific sense, fossil hunting) is the collection of fossils for scientific study, hobby, or profit. Fossil collecting, as practiced by amateurs, is the predecessor of modern paleontology and many still collect fossils and study fossils as amateurs. Professionals and amateurs alike collect fossils for their scientific value. A commercial trade in fossils has also long existed, with some of this being practised illegally.
caption: College of Wooster students collecting fossils as part of their invertebrate paleontology course. This is a roadside outcrop of Ordovician limestones and shales in southeastern Indiana.
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