Open Ground
The Mazon Creek Beds
Public concretion beds · Mazonia, Illinois
Open to digThe prize. Soft-bodied Carboniferous fossils
Where. Mazonia, Illinois
Status. Open to dig
Where. Mazonia, Illinois
Status. Open to dig
The account
The spoil heaps of an old strip mine south of Chicago hide ironstone concretions that crack open to reveal the soft bodied creatures of a Carboniferous swamp, a fossil bed famous the world over.
Leads, where the trail points now
- What you can keep: Soft-bodied Carboniferous fossils. Confirm the site's current rules and any day fee before you go.
- Where: Mazonia, Illinois. Search only the marked legal area, and bring the right pan, screen, or detector and a container for finds.
- Best practice: record anything notable, leave the ground as you found it, and check the latest access notices before you travel.
Open ground. You can legally search here and keep what you find, within the rules the site posts. Bring any day fee or licence it asks for.
The full hunt kit is in the fellowship
The starting brief, the gear, the legal picture for this exact ground, and a GPS chart pack you can load and go. The map stays free.
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