Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Life · Unit 4

Fossils and Fossil Hunting

What fossils are, how they form and how they are found

Fossilisation is extraordinarily unlikely. Almost every organism that has ever lived left no trace, and the fossil record is a heavily filtered sample rather than a catalogue.

The unit covers what a fossil is, the conditions needed to form one, how fossils are found and excavated, the care they require, and how museum skeletons are assembled.

This unit breaks down into 18 short steps and 109 questions, starting at difficulty 1 and building to 3. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.

Steps: 18
Questions: 109
Difficulty: 1-3

What this unit covers

How Fossils Form
Finding Fossils
What a Fossil Is
Digging Tools and Care
Museums and Skeletons

Where this fits

Follows What Is a Dinosaur? How Palaeontology Works goes further.

Where people slip

A fossil is usually not bone. In most cases the original material has been replaced by minerals, so what you are looking at is a stone copy in the original shape.

How the unit is structured

Fossils and Fossil Hunting runs as 18 short steps that unlock in order. 13 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 1 and climb to 3 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 18 · harder

Challenge rounds

Example questions

30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 109 in the unit altogether.

Digging Tools and Care

Fact or fibLevel 1
1. Removing rock from a fossil can take longer than digging it up.
Answer: True
True. Preparation can take thousands of hours.
Fill the blankLevel 1
2. The person who studies fossils is called a ____.
- palaeontologistcorrect
- astronaut
- archivist
- chemist
Palaeontologists study ancient life through fossils.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
3. Which tools do fossil hunters use? Pick all that apply.
- A rock hammercorrect
- Fine brushescorrect
- A notebook and cameracorrect
- A metal detector for bones
Hammers, brushes and notebooks are all part of the kit.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
4. Which tool would a fossil hunter use to gently clean dust from a bone?
- A soft brushcorrect
- A garden hose at full power
- A chainsaw
- A pressure washer
Soft brushes remove loose sand without damaging the fossil.
Put in orderLevel 2
5. Put the stages of a fossil dig in order.
Answer: Prospect the outcrop -> Expose the bones carefully -> Wrap them in a plaster jacket -> Transport to the museum -> Prepare in the lab
Prospect, expose, jacket, transport, then prepare in the lab.
Sort into groupsLevel 2
6. Sort each activity as fieldwork or laboratory work.
Answer: Prospecting an outcrop = Fieldwork; Applying a plaster jacket = Fieldwork; Using an air scribe = Laboratory; CT scanning a skull = Laboratory
A fossil's journey runs from outcrop to lab bench.

Finding Fossils

Fact or fibLevel 1
7. Fossils are found on every continent, including Antarctica.
Answer: True
True. Dinosaur fossils have been recovered even from Antarctic rocks.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
8. Why should you tell a museum if you find a fossil?
- So experts can study it and record where it came fromcorrect
- So they can sell it
- So it can be thrown away
- There is no reason to tell anyone
Experts can identify it and record exactly where it came from, which is vital information.
True or falseLevel 1
9. Many important fossils are found by accident by ordinary people.
Answer: True
True. Farmers, walkers and children have all made major discoveries.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
10. Which information must be recorded with a fossil find? Pick all that apply.
- Exact locationcorrect
- The rock layer it came fromcorrect
- How the bones lay in the groundcorrect
- The finder's favourite colour
Location, rock layer and orientation are essential context.
Match the pairsLevel 2
11. Match each famous fossil area to what it is known for.
Answer: Hell Creek = Last North American dinosaurs; Gobi Desert = Nests and Velociraptor; Liaoning = Feathered dinosaurs; Lyme Regis = Jurassic sea reptiles
Different regions preserve different chapters of prehistory.
Type the answerLevel 2
12. What word means the wearing away of rock by wind, water and ice?
Answer: erosion
Erosion exposes fossils at the surface.

How Fossils Form

Fill the blankLevel 1
13. Insects are sometimes trapped and preserved in sticky tree resin that hardens into ____.
- ambercorrect
- amberglass
- marble
- chalk
Amber is fossilised tree resin.
Put in orderLevel 1
14. Put the steps of fossil formation in order.
Answer: An animal dies -> It is buried by mud or sand -> Minerals slowly turn bone to stone -> Erosion uncovers the fossil
The animal dies, is buried, minerals replace the bone, and erosion finally exposes it.
True or falseLevel 1
15. Minerals in water can slowly fill the tiny spaces in a bone and turn it into stone.
Answer: True
True. That process is why fossil bone is so heavy and rock-like.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
16. Which conditions favour fossilisation? Pick all that apply.
- Rapid burialcorrect
- Having hard partscorrect
- Low-oxygen sedimentcorrect
- Dying on an open mountainside
Rapid burial, hard parts and low-oxygen sediment all help.
Fact or fibLevel 2
17. Fossils can also form when an animal leaves a hollow mould in the rock.
Answer: True
True. Moulds and casts preserve the shape even when the original is gone.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
18. Where do fossils usually form?
- In layers of mud, sand or silt
- Inside volcanoes
- In clouds
- In metal
Fossils form in sediment such as mud, sand or silt that later hardens into rock.

Museums and Skeletons

Build the sentenceLevel 2
19. Build a sentence about how fossils reach us.
Answer: Erosion slowly uncovers buried fossils
Erosion slowly uncovers buried fossils.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
20. Which are reasons museums remount old skeletons? Pick all that apply.
- New scientific evidence about posturecorrect
- Better conservation of the bonescorrect
- Improved display technologycorrect
- The bones have grown
New evidence, conservation needs and better display techniques all drive remounting.
Fact or fibLevel 2
21. A fossil without locality data can still be a valuable holotype.
Answer: False
False. Without provenance its scientific usefulness is badly compromised.
Fill the blankLevel 2
22. Specimens kept permanently in a public museum are said to be in a ____ collection.
- publiccorrect
- private
- secret
- temporary
Public repositories keep specimens available for future study.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
23. Are the skeletons on display in museums always the real bones?
- No, many are casts of the real bones
- Yes, always the real bones
- They are made of wood
- They are drawings
Many mounts are casts, because real bones are heavy and precious.
Put in orderLevel 3
24. Put the life of a specimen in order.
Answer: Discovery in the field -> Excavation with records -> Preparation and conservation -> Accession into a collection -> Study and publication
From discovery to publication, each stage adds to its scientific value.

What a Fossil Is

Fill the blankLevel 1
25. Fossil footprints and droppings are called ____ fossils.
- tracecorrect
- metal
- ice
- paper
Trace fossils record behaviour rather than bodies.
Picture questionLevel 1
26. 🦴 What kind of ancient evidence does this picture stand for?
- A fossil bonecorrect
- A living animal
- A meteorite
- A crystal of salt
A bone in the rock is a body fossil.
True or falseLevel 1
27. A fossil footprint is a kind of fossil, even though it is not a body part.
Answer: True
True. Traces such as footprints, eggs and droppings are fossils too.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
28. Which of these count as trace fossils? Pick all that apply.
- Footprintscorrect
- Burrowscorrect
- Fossil dungcorrect
- A skull
Footprints, burrows and dung all record activity.
Fact or fibLevel 2
29. Every animal that dies becomes a fossil.
Answer: False
False. Fossilisation is rare, and most remains rot away or are eaten.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
30. Which parts of a dinosaur are most often found as fossils?
- Bones and teethcorrect
- Muscles and skin
- Blood
- Breath
Hard parts such as bones and teeth survive far better than soft flesh.

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.

How you practise

This unit mixes 11 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.

Build the sentence
Choose all that apply
Fact or fib
Fill the blank
Match the pairs
Multiple choice
Picture question
Put in order
Sort into groups
True or false
Type the answer

Practise Fossils and Fossil Hunting

109 questions across 18 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

Play this unit

Read about Fossils and Fossil Hunting

Explainers from our blog on what this unit covers. Each one ends with real questions from the bank.

More units in Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Life

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