8 beaches

Best Fossil Hunting Beaches

Maryland's Calvert Cliffs run 30 miles along the western Chesapeake and contain one of the world's richest Miocene-era fossil deposits. Erosion constantly drops new material onto the beach — sharks' teeth (Carcharocles megalodon chief among them), whale bones, crocodile scutes, and 600+ other species date back 10-20 million years. The fossil hunting season is technically year-round, but winter and spring storms expose the most new finds. Bring a sieve, low tide is your friend, and never chip fossils out of the cliffs themselves — that's both illegal and dangerous.