Fossil Identifier Icon

Fossil Identifier

Fossil Identifier Icon

Identify Fossils from a Photo — and Know When It's Just a Rock

Fossilia helps you identify fossils and rocks from a photo—and tells you when what you found isn't a fossil at all. Take a picture with your camera or pick one from your gallery to see the most likely match, two alternative candidates, and an estimated value.

From a Photo to an Answer You Can Check

Identify from a Photo

Take a picture with your camera or pick one from your gallery. Fossilia analyzes the image and suggests the most likely match, with two alternative candidates, so you can see what else it could be instead of a single confident guess

It Tells You When It's Just a Rock

Most things people photograph aren't fossils, so Fossilia decides that question first, before naming anything. A concretion, a manganese dendrite, a septarian nodule, a flint nodule, a water-worn pebble, or a modern shell is called what it is, along with what people usually mistake it for—and no price is shown. A rock with a price tag on it helps nobody

Reasons You Can Check Yourself

Every reason listed is something visible in your own photo—the stacked discs, the fracture surface, the pore pattern—so you can hold your specimen up and check the answer instead of taking it on faith. Results include the common name, a scientific name at the rank the photo actually supports, geologic period and age, rarity, preservation and matrix, and where this kind of specimen typically comes from

Tell It the Size

A photograph carries no scale, and size is what separates crinoid stems from Orthoceras, or a concretion from an egg. Pick a size band before you scan—no measuring required—and it's used for both the identification and the price. Your measurement is always labeled as yours

See an Estimated Value

For identified fossils, Fossilia provides a value estimate informed by current marketplace listings of similar specimens, and shows you those comparable listings so you can see the market for yourself. Common material is called common: plenty of real fossils are worth a few dollars, and you'll be told that plainly

Build a Collection Across Geologic Time

Saved specimens are arranged into a stratigraphic column from the Quaternary down to the Precambrian. Empty periods are drawn too, so you can see which stretches of time your collection is still missing

Great For

Out in the Field

Beaches, creek beds, quarries, road cuts, and spoil heaps

At Home

The drawer of rocks from childhood, an inherited collection, a shelf of unlabeled specimens

Buying

Rock and mineral shows, flea markets, estate sales, and online listings

Curious Kids

Anyone who wants to know what they just picked up

Find Out What You Picked Up

Photograph what you found and get an answer you can check against the specimen in your hand—the name, the period it came from, what it's worth, and whether it's a fossil at all.

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Notes & Accuracy

Fossilia provides informational results and may be inaccurate. Identifications, condition assessments, and value estimates are not guarantees of authenticity, species, or market price.

Value estimates are for informational purposes only and may vary with species, size, completeness, preparation, condition, and demand.

Collecting and export rules vary by country and by land ownership—nothing here is legal advice. For formal identification, authentication, appraisal, insurance, resale, or legal matters, consult a qualified professional.

A paid subscription is required to use the app and access its core features. You can cancel anytime in your Apple ID account settings.