Collections ManagementThe Paleontology Portal

How to Use this Site

This site is divided into four sections describing the main activities in managing a fossil collection. The functions of each activity are explained with detailed information, samples of documents and forms from museums, and links that you can follow to access even more resources on other sites. You can explore further within each section, or move on to the next section. For a brief overview of the main activities you can view the case study showing a real fossil specimen that is being processed into a museum collection. You can also jump to a compilation of many of the site’s useful tools and resources.

Quick Definitions

Paleontology

The study of any evidence of past life or extinct organisms, including their structure, environment, evolution, and distribution, as revealed by their fossil or subfossil remains.

– Duckworth, et al., 1993, p. 140

Fossil

Fossil specimens are organisms or fragments, impressions, or traces of organisms preserved in rock.

– Cato et al, 2003

Subfossil

Subfossil specimens are bones or other organic hard tissues (e.g., shells) that have been subject to sub-aerial weathering and then burial, but have not been subjected to any secondary mineralization.

– Collins, 1988

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