Where to Find Fossils in Alabama
Alabama has 6 mapped collecting spots that report fossils, spread across 6 counties. The largest share sits in Colbert County with 1 spot. 6 of the spots are on land mapped as publicly accessible.
Map of 6 fossils collecting spots in Alabama
Standout fossils spots in Alabama
Hand-picked from the full list below, with the reason each one earns a trip.
Tennessee River (Muscle Shoals)
Colbert County
The Tennessee Valley around Muscle Shoals exposes Mississippian Fort Payne and Tuscumbia limestones and their cherts, which weather into gravels loaded with silicified crinoid stems, corals, brachiopods, and blastoids.
Red Mountain (Birmingham)
Jefferson County
Red Mountain is the type area for the Silurian oolitic hematite that Alabama named its state mineral in 1967, the red iron ore that built Birmingham's steel industry.
Tuskegee National Forest
Macon County
Petrified wood occurs in a broad swath of Alabama gravels from the northwest to the southeast, and Macon County sits squarely on that belt where silicified logs weather out of the Coastal Plain sands.
Demopolis (Black Belt)
Marengo County
Demopolis gives its name to the Demopolis Chalk, part of the Selma Group that makes Alabama's Black Belt one of the premier Late Cretaceous marine fossil regions in the world.
Black Warrior River Mines & Pits
Tuscaloosa County
The gravels of the Black Warrior River around Tuscaloosa are one of Alabama's most productive spots for agate, jasper, chalcedony, and silicified wood eroded from the Coastal Plain and coal-basin rocks upstream.
Bankhead National Forest
Winston County
The William B. Bankhead National Forest spreads across about 181,000 acres of the Cumberland Plateau in northwest Alabama, where the Sipsey Fork cuts sandstone gorges that expose fresh rock.
Best counties for fossils in Alabama
Ranked by the number of mapped fossils spots. County links open the full rockhounding page for that county.
Every fossils spot we track in Alabama
Sorted by county. Coordinates open in Google Maps.
| Spot | County | Minerals | Coordinates | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tennessee River (Muscle Shoals) | Colbert County | 34.7450, -87.6670 | Public | |
| Red Mountain (Birmingham) | Jefferson County | 33.4557, -86.8497 | Public | |
| Tuskegee National Forest | Macon County | 32.4800, -85.6200 | Public | |
| Demopolis (Black Belt) | Marengo County | 32.5180, -87.8360 | Public | |
| Black Warrior River Mines & PitsRocky Branch Road | Tuscaloosa County |
| 33.2784, -87.3994 | Public |
| Bankhead National Forest | Winston County | 34.2800, -87.4000 | Public |
Fossils in Alabama FAQ
Where can you find fossils in Alabama?+
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Where else to find fossils
More minerals to hunt in Alabama
Hunt fossils in Alabama with the map in your pocket
RockHoundR puts these spots on an offline map with BLM and Forest Service overlays, geology layers, and a log for your finds.
