A fossil discovery is the beginning of a research process, not its final conclusion. Palaeontologists document where specimens were found, compare their anatomy with other material and make collections available for further study. This archive follows researchers and expeditions while keeping the limits of each discovery in view.
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Great mistakes in palaeontology
Six famous palaeontological errors: Iguanodon's horn, reversed Elasmosaurus, Apatosaurus's borrowed skull, Oviraptor, Hallucigenia and Archaeoraptor.
How palaeontology changed from fieldwork to digital science
From nineteenth-century collecting to CT imaging and shared 3D models, see how palaeontologists' questions and tools changed while fossil context remained essential.
The risks and realities of palaeontology expeditions
Remote fossil fieldwork required transport, maps, supplies and local knowledge. A closer look at expedition records separates real logistical hazards from adventure myths.
Who gets remembered in palaeontology?
Fossil discoveries depend on many people. Explore how finding, preparing, describing and displaying specimens shaped who entered palaeontology's public history.
How do paleontologists’ biographies reveal the history of science?
How biographies of paleontologists reveal changing methods, fieldwork, scientific disagreement and the people behind discoveries of ancient life.
Famous palaeontological expeditions
Six expeditions that changed dinosaur science, from the Morrison Formation and Tendaguru to Carnegie Quarry and three generations of work in the Gobi Desert.
Women who changed palaeontology
From Mary Anning's fossil discoveries to Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska's Gobi expeditions and Sue Hendrickson's field find, women shaped palaeontology in different ways.
Women in palaeontology: work and recognition
How women shaped fossil collecting, field geology and palaeontology, and why their contributions were often recorded unevenly in the history of science.
Why dinosaur discoveries continue
New dinosaur knowledge comes from field discoveries, museum collections and revised analyses. Learn why naming a fossil is only one part of discovery.
How Hui Dai's work reveals the Jurassic dinosaurs of Chongqing
Hui Dai's work in Chongqing connects fossil quarry records, Middle Jurassic geology and dinosaur anatomy to reconstruct a regional fauna.
How did Ivan Efremov change the study of fossils?
How Ivan Efremov's study of fossil preservation established taphonomy and changed the way palaeontologists interpret the incomplete fossil record.
How Ivan Efremov made fossil formation a science
Palaeontologist Ivan Efremov developed taphonomy to study how organisms become part of the fossil record, linking decay, burial, geology and field evidence.
Palaeontology in Russia and the USSR
How dinosaur research developed across Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union and modern Russia, from fragmentary bones and institutes to the Gobi and digital methods.
Anatoly Rozhdestvensky and Mongolian dinosaurs
Discover how Anatoly Rozhdestvensky compared Asian dinosaur fossils and helped establish the importance of Mongolia's Cretaceous record.
How Soviet palaeontologists studied Mongolia's dinosaurs
How Soviet and Mongolian teams surveyed the Gobi, excavated dinosaur fossils and built collections that reshaped knowledge of Cretaceous Asia.
Evgeny Maleev and Soviet dinosaur research
How Evgeny Maleev studied dinosaur fossils from the Gobi and helped bring Tarbosaurus into the scientific record.
Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska and the Gobi expeditions
How Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska helped lead Polish-Mongolian palaeontological expeditions in the Gobi, and why their mammal fossils and international fieldwork reshaped knowledge of Cretaceous life.
How Sue Hendrickson found the T. rex called SUE
How field researcher Sue Hendrickson found the fossil later known as SUE, why the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton is unusually informative, and what the discovery can show.
Sue Hendrickson and the discovery of SUE
The 1990 discovery of the Tyrannosaurus rex known as SUE, the excavation and custody dispute, and what the Field Museum specimen can tell us about fossil collecting.
Philip Currie: dinosaur behaviour from fossil evidence
How Philip Currie's work on Alberta bonebeds, theropods and trackways expanded dinosaur palaeobiology, and why fossils rarely preserve a complete behavioural scene.
Paul Sereno's Niger expeditions: reading the Sahara's fossil record
How geological mapping and collaborative fieldwork in Niger led to important dinosaur finds, and why fossil prospecting is more than a lucky walk across the desert.
Paul Sereno’s Sahara expeditions and African dinosaur discoveries
How Paul Sereno’s teams explored Saharan fossil beds, what their African dinosaur discoveries established, and what expedition publicity can leave out.
How did José Bonaparte help reveal South America’s dinosaurs?
How Argentine palaeontologist José Bonaparte helped reveal South America's distinctive dinosaur fauna through fieldwork, fossil study and scientific collaboration.
How José Bonaparte changed South American palaeontology
José Bonaparte helped transform knowledge of South American fossil vertebrates through field discoveries, comparative research, museum collections and generations of students.
Xu Xing and the discovery of feathered dinosaurs
How fieldwork, fossil-rich Chinese deposits and collaborative research shaped Xu Xing’s work on feathered dinosaurs and dinosaur evolution.
What Xu Xing's Microraptor research shows about feathered dinosaurs
Xu Xing's work on Microraptor and other fossils from China helped turn feathered dinosaurs into an anatomical question about evolution, movement and the origins of flight.
How fossils from China changed the study of feathered dinosaurs
The Sinosauropteryx discovery and Liaoning's fossil beds transformed research on dinosaur feathers, birds and exceptional preservation.
Zhao Xijin and the growth of Chinese dinosaur research
How Zhao Xijin's fieldwork and publications helped build the Chinese dinosaur record, from Yunnan fossils to debates about dinosaur evolution and classification.
How Luis Alvarez changed the study of dinosaur extinction
How physicist Luis Alvarez, geologist Walter Alvarez and their colleagues used an iridium anomaly to propose an impact at the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary.
Robert Bakker and the dinosaur renaissance
How Robert Bakker challenged static pictures of dinosaurs and argued for active physiology, while later research moved beyond simple warm-blooded or cold-blooded labels.
Jack Horner: nests, Maiasaura and dinosaur growth
How Jack Horner and collaborators used Montana nesting sites to study Maiasaura growth and possible parental care, while keeping behaviour claims tied to evidence.
Why did Jack Horner become a prominent paleontologist?
Why Jack Horner became a prominent paleontologist, from dinosaur nesting sites and Maiasaura to debates about growth and public communication.
Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions
What the American Museum of Natural History's expeditions to Mongolia and China actually found, how the famous egg discovery was interpreted, and why the fieldwork was a team effort.
How did Barnum Brown become a legend of paleontology?
How Barnum Brown’s field work, the first Tyrannosaurus rex discoveries and museum collections shaped his reputation in early twentieth-century paleontology.
The Bone Wars
How Othniel Marsh and Edward Cope competed for fossils, publications and reputation, and what their discoveries, errors and collections left behind.
How Richard Owen named the dinosaurs
How Richard Owen grouped Megalosaurus, Iguanodon and Hylaeosaurus as Dinosauria in 1842, what the name meant, and why his legacy remains contested.
How Richard Owen gave dinosaurs their name
How Richard Owen grouped three known fossil genera as Dinosauria in 1842, what the name meant and how the classification later changed.
Mary Anning: fossils that changed natural history
Mary Anning's discoveries on the Jurassic Coast reshaped the study of marine reptiles and fossils. Explore her work, collaborators and the limits of the familiar story.
Mary Anning's fossil discoveries on the Jurassic Coast
The fossils Mary Anning found at Lyme Regis changed research on ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and pterosaurs. Their history also shows how discovery and scientific credit could be separated.
Eric Prokopi and the fossil-smuggling case
The attempted sale of a Tarbosaurus skeleton led to a high-profile case about fossil provenance, illegal trade and Mongolia's palaeontological heritage.
How dinosaur excavations work
Follow how palaeontologists locate, document, excavate, protect and prepare dinosaur fossils, and why field context matters as much as the bones.
Five palaeontologists who changed dinosaur science
Mantell, Owen, Marsh, Brown and Ostrom changed dinosaur science through anatomy, classification, collections, fieldwork and evolutionary ideas.
Major dinosaur discoveries by decade
A chronological guide to pivotal dinosaur discoveries, from Megalosaurus and Archaeopteryx to Gobi eggs, feathered fossils, preserved skin and old collections.
How are fossils dated?
Learn how palaeontologists date fossils with rock layers, volcanic ash, zircon, argon, magnetic reversals and other independent evidence.
How do paleontologists find and study dinosaurs?
How fossil-bearing rocks are located, excavated and documented, and how specimens move from field jackets to study, publication and museum display.
Who first used the term dinosaur?
Richard Owen introduced Dinosauria as a scientific group in the 1840s. The paper's publication history helps separate the documented name from later retellings.
Talampaya, Ischigualasto and the early history of dinosaurs
Talampaya and Ischigualasto preserve a remarkable Triassic record in Argentina. Learn how the basin's formations document early dinosaurs without treating one park as the single birthplace of the group.
History of dinosaur discovery
Follow 200 years of dinosaur discovery, from Megalosaurus and Dinosauria to Deinonychus, feathered fossils, CT scans and modern field records.
How do palaeozoology and palaeobotany work together?
How fossil animals, plants and geological context help researchers reconstruct ancient organisms and ecosystems, and where the evidence has limits.
How dinosaur discoveries reshaped Europe’s fossil record
Trace European dinosaur discovery from Buckland and Mantell to the Bernissart iguanodonts, and learn why a famous first description was only the beginning.
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Frequently asked questions
What does a palaeontologist study?
Palaeontologists study fossils and the geological evidence around them to investigate ancient organisms, environments and evolutionary history.
How do researchers identify a fossil species?
They compare diagnostic features with other specimens and published descriptions. Incomplete or distorted remains may not support a confident species identification.
Why are fossil collections important?
Documented museum collections let researchers re-examine specimens, compare new discoveries and test earlier interpretations. Provenance and preparation records are part of that evidence.
Does finding a fossil immediately prove a new species?
No. A discovery must be documented, compared and evaluated against existing material. Some apparent differences reflect age, variation, damage or preservation rather than a separate species.