An Introduction to Fossil Hunting at Lake Erie

Step 1: Train your eyes

The art of fossil hunting is really the art of pattern recognition. If you don’t know what fossils can look like, you won’t see them. I say what they “can” look like because depending on the type of rock they are in and the part of the fossil you find, the same kind of fossil can look quite different.

At the end of this article, I have a guide showing multiple samples of some of the most common fossils I have in my Lake Erie collection. While all of the samples in each section are the same kind of marine critter, as you can see, they look drastically different. 

This is, in large part, because they are fossilized in different kinds of rocks. Then, also because we are looking at different parts of the animal.

I hope you enjoy my little guide at the end of the story.

The best resource I have found for training my eyes is Lapidary-based Facebook groups where people post their finds to get them identified by experts. 

This routinely puts a variety of fossil samples in my feed, which gives me regular practice, unlike reading a text or studying fossil photos via google.  I may intend to read up on fossils, but it's much more reliable to see them pop up in my social media feed.

My favorite group for this is Great Lakes Rocks & Minerals. 

Of course, if you're not the social media addict that I am, you can look to more traditional sources. You can also find articles online about Great Lakes fossils where you can see samples like this one in Beachcombing Magazine.

Once you’ve trained your eyes, you’re ready to head out and give them something to look at.

Step 2: Choose your beach

Lake Erie beaches are extremely variable. Some Lake Erie beaches are rocky, some are smooth and some have areas of both. 

Changing weather can also create immense variation. Even on the same beach. It is not uncommon to visit a beach covered in rocks one day and stopping by the next to find it swept completely smooth by high winds or storms.

For fossil hunting, you need to find a rocky beach. The more rocks, the better. Some of my favorite fossil beaches include Kenneth J. Sims Park in Euclid and Nokomis Beach in Vermilion. The rockier the beach, the better. 

The day you choose to visit may also have a lot to do with what you find. Over time, if you visit a beach regularly, you will begin to know how the surf reacts to storms and high winds, and you’ll be able to better predict good fossil hunting days.

Sometimes, when a normally rocky beach is a bit thinned out, it can actually be easier to spot the fossils among the rocks strewn about. If you arrive to your beach and it's looking less rocky than usual, it may still be worth a closer look.

To learn more about various beaches in the area, please take a look at my "Beach Takes," which I will be updating with a fossil forecast bit by bit in the near future.

Step 3: Increase your odds during the hunt

In order to find fossils you need to increase your odds of seeing them. I can't tell you how many times I've had a friend or acquaintance swear up and down that they have never seen a fossil at Lake Erie, despite being a regular beachgoer for decades.

This isn't surprising to me, becuase in addition to recognizing the pattern of the fossil, there are several ways you need to improve the conditions for your eyes. It's obviously easier to hunt for fossils in bright sunlight than on a cloudy day or close to dusk. Though you can't control the amount of light from the sky, you can bring a flashlight or even use the light on your phone. 

Outside of brigtening the view, here are four more ways that you can set yourself up for a more successful fossil hunt.

Get low: It’s nearly impossible to see fossil patterns when you’re standing and looking down at the ground. It’s necessary to get your face close to the ground to increase the probability that you will notice the patterns on fossils. You can sit, kneel or bend, though bending can create some very sore hamstrings. Bring a gardening pad along for sitting and kneeling.

Get wet: Not you, but the rocks themselves. Patterns on fossils can be impossible to see when they are in piles of dry rock. If you focus your hunt on the rocks that are being wetted by the surf, it can be effective, but you’ll miss out on a lot of what’s out there. You can go hunting when it’s raining, but for more comfortable fossil hunts, you can bring along a spray bottle to wet sections of the rock. 

Another way to make sure the rocks you’re searching through are wet is to look in the rock layer under the lake water. This works best if the water is relatively still, but some rock and fossil hunters create tools with plexiglass and buckets that they can dip into the water to get a clearer view of the bottom. Then, you may need a scoop on a pole to reach down and grab what you’re looking at (depending on how deep the water is).

Diggity dog: Looking at the surface of collected rock may allow you to find a fossil or two, but for best results, I recommend shifting each layer of rock aside (not scooping). I do this with a shovel or with the basket of a reptile litter scoop. By brushing/scraping aside layer by layer, I can do a quick scan of each layer to see if there are any familiar patterns. So, be ready to dig. This also makes the gardening pad pretty handy because you can search a small area for a longer period of time this way.

Shifting around the rock has the added benefit of showing you different angles on the rocks, making it more likely that you will see a fossil’s signature pattern. While some fossils have patterns on all sides, many have a backing of rock or a limited area of pattern. By moving and shifting the rocks, you increase the likelihood that you’ll catch a glimpse of a pattern.

Stop and grab: Once you think you see something, stop moving so you don’t brush the fossil away and pick it up immediately. Many times during fossil hunts my brain has reacted too slowly and before I register the pattern, my hand has swiped the layer. I have also experienced seeing a fossil, looking away and being unable to relocate it. For this reason, I immediately grasp anything I see and further evaluate it once it’s in my hand.

A last little piece of advice: Collect into a mesh bag. If you place your fossils, rocks and sea glass into a mesh bag with very fine mesh, the sand will have a chance to dry up and fall out. For this reason, I also recommend keeping a tub in the trunk where you can set your finds. Then, by the time you get home, you lift your mesh bag out and dump that sand before it has a chance to break your garbage disposal.

Step 4: Enjoy the spoils

Once you’ve found a fossil or two (or 37) it’s time to clean them. Pro-tip: don’t rinse your rocks in the kitchen sink, particularly if you have a garbage disposal. Ask me how I know. If anything falls in there, it can create a LOT of problems. I recommend rinsing your rocks with a garden hose first and then bringing them in for further cleaning.

Vinegar wash: Soaking your fossils in white vinegar will dissolve the rock matrix around the fossil, making the fossil characteristics more pronounced. It works especially well for fossils in a calcium carbonate, which will dissolve in vinegar. Start with just a few minutes of vinegar and check how your fossil is doing because some softer fossils themselves will dissolve or become damaged in vinegar. After testing them in a short wash, some fossils will clearly benefit from a longer soak. 

When you’ve finished, be sure to neutralize the vinegar with baking soda or mild soap. DEFINITELY don’t pour the sludge leftover from the vinegar soak down the drain. It is not safe for your disposal. Silly side note, Sams Club sells white vinegar in a giant two pack - my husband has to pick one up for me every other week.

Polishing: There are many ways to polish your fossils. If you’re brave, you can put them in a rock tumbler, though softer fossils could be harmed in the process. 

If you’re patient like me, you can use wet/dry sandpaper to hand polish your fossils. This works well for those in softer matrices. Begin with a 100-240 grit sandpaper and go all of the way up to your 3,000 to 5,000 grit sandpaper. Then, use aluminum oxide polish (I use this one) on a felt cloth to get a shine. 

If you want to go more high tech and less carpal tunnel, you can use a dremel with diamond bit grinding tips and polishing/buffing tips to achieve a similar result. Dremel with caution though - the grinding and polishing happens much faster and caused me to lose some of the beauty of one of my favorite crinoid fossils. Like everything, it's a learning process.

Whether you wire wrap them and wear them as jewelry, put them in an outdoor rock garden or create gorgeous paperweights, these pieces of Ohio’s natural history are beautiful and lots of fun to find.

Happy hunting!