Prehistoric Farm Fossils: How Fossil Excavation Works

Fossil excavation is the loop that produces every dinosaur you own in Prehistoric Farm: you dig up fossils at marked dig spots on the period islands, complete one period's fossil set, and trade that set to Dr. Ivy for a dinosaur egg that hatches, grows on your ranch, and eventually becomes a rideable dino. The minimum version of the loop looks like this:

1. Grab your shovel and sail to a dig island. You start with a shovel, and the first fossil island — the Cambrian one — is under a minute from spawn by boat.
2. Hold down on a dig spot and release when the meter is in the green. That is the timing the game's own How To Play recommends "for a better find."
3. Keep digging. Each dig resolves randomly into a fossil for that period's set, a "No fossil" miss, or a bonus such as buried treasure and cash.
4. Trade the full set for an egg. A completed set flags "Ready to extract DNA" — bring it to Dr. Ivy's DNA Lab and trade the fossils for an egg.
5. Incubate, hatch, raise. Warm the egg in the incubator, collect it at the hatchery, place the hatchling on your ranch, and keep its belly over half full so it grows into a dino you can ride.

Everything else about excavation — the gates that decide where you can dig, what each dig can yield, and how fossils convert into dinosaurs — is below.

How fossil excavation works

Digging is the entry point of the whole dinosaur pipeline, and each piece has a distinct job:

• Dig spots are the marked targets you actually dig. They appear on islands, and at night some glow, making them visible. A superior reward rate is not established.
• Fossil sets are the collection layer. Every period has its own set, tracked with a running count, and your digs fill it.
• Dr. Ivy's DNA Lab is the exchange. A full set isn't processed on the spot; you carry it to Dr. Ivy, who trades it for an egg.
• The incubator, hatchery and ranch turn that egg into a growing dino, which is where excavation's payoff lands.

The game's How To Play sums up the chain the same way: dig with the shovel, "collect a full set of fossils and bring them to Dr. Ivy to grow an egg," warm the egg in the incubator, keep your dino's belly over half full, and once it's grown, ride it around the islands.

Where you can dig: period islands and gates

Dig sites are grouped on islands by geological period: Cambrian, Deonian (Devonian), Triacic (Triassic), Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Cretaceous seas. You reach them by boat from spawn — the streamer whose session this guide draws from made the first trip in under a minute. For a full tour of each island's spots, see the dig sites list; this page sticks to how access works.

Two gates decide where you can actually dig:

• Shovel tier. With the starter shovel you can only dig in the Cambrian area — attempts at Jurassic-area dig spots were refused with "I need a better shovel." The shovel shop sells upgrades that "start digging in different parts": the bronze shovel costs 2,500 coins and the next one after it 12,000. See the shovel guide for the tool itself.
• Boat size. Better shovels are worthless if you can't reach the island. "Buy bigger boats and sail to new fossil islands" is the game's own Explore pitch, and the next boat up was priced at 4,000 coins in the observed session. GameRant adds that an aquatic dinosaur can stand in for a boat on sea trips if your vessel is small or not ready.

One more targeting rule: at night, glowing dig sites appear, flagged by the on-screen prompt "Find a glowing dig site." A dig at a glowing site produced a "Perfect" result plus extra cash in the observed session, so when night falls, the glowing spots are the ones to hit. If you want to go deeper on the timing itself, that's covered on the digging timing page.

All prices here come from a single gameplay session shortly after the game launched, so treat them as observed snapshots rather than a fixed ladder — and check the boats page and fossil islands page before planning a big purchase.

The dig interaction and what each dig can yield

The dig itself is a timing check. Per the official in-game How To Play: "Grab your shovel and hold down on a dig site. Let go when the meter is in the green for a better find!" GameTio's independent FAQ describes the identical interaction — hold the shovel at a dig site and release when the meter reaches green — so the mechanic is well corroborated.

Each dig then resolves into one of a few visible outcomes:

• A named fossil added to that period's set. The observed session pulled Cambrian finds like a Hallucigenia, a Pikaia and an Opabinia fossil, plus trilobites that came up again and again. (Fossil names in this guide follow the video's transcription — in-game labels may spell them slightly differently.)
• A "No fossil" miss. These happened repeatedly — "it seems like we have to like get lucky to get a fossil," as the player put it. Missing is a normal part of digging, not a sign you're doing it wrong.
• A "Perfect" result from a well-timed release at the green, observed alongside fossil finds and cash payouts.
• Bonus finds such as buried treasure and straight cash, including from the night-time glowing sites.

Outcomes are random per dig. No source shows the actual odds or a payout table, so don't expect a specific hit rate — just budget for misses and keep the shovel busy.

What fossils are for: sets, eggs and your first dino

Fossils aren't currency for random trinkets — they're the raw material of dinosaur restoration, and the path is strict:

1. Fill a period's set. Your collection tracks each period with a running count. The Cambrian set was shown at "three out of six," with the UI noting "three more for DNA." Other periods' set sizes weren't shown in the observed session.
2. Take the full set to the fossil station. When the set fills it flags "Ready to extract DNA," but extraction doesn't happen where you dug — the player realized he had "to bring it to the fossil station to extract the DNA."
3. Trade the set for an egg at Dr. Ivy's DNA Lab. Dr. Ivy ("I bring fossils back to life. Got any samples for me?") exchanges the complete set for an egg — the session shows exactly that: "Trade fossils for an egg. There we go. Tectalic."
4. Incubate the egg. The first egg took five minutes to incubate; a later one showed "Hatches in 2 minutes and 30 seconds," so the timer varies.
5. Collect it at the hatchery and watch it hatch — the session's first hatch was a Hallucigenia.
6. Place the dino on your ranch and keep it fed. The official rule: "Keep your dino's belly over half full so it keeps growing." Dinos grow from tiny Newborns into huge Elders, and a grown dino is rideable across the islands.

Crucially, the loop repeats. A second completed set — the Tectalic — went through the same trade → incubate → hatch → ranch → feed sequence, and each new full set means another egg. What each period's set produces beyond the two creatures shown isn't documented, so for full set requirements and how eggs become specific dinos, follow the fossil sets guide and the DNA restoration guide. The incubator, egg handling and raising stages each have their own pages too: dinosaur eggs, incubator, dinosaur growth, dinosaur raising and dinosaur riding.

Digging efficiently: coins, boosts and upgrades

The documented technique and observed upgrade route are:

• Time your release at the green. A well-timed release registered as "Perfect" in the session — the callout comes from narration rather than a verified UI label, and green-zone timing is the official advice.
• Hunt glowing sites at night. A night dig at a glowing site returned a "Perfect" plus extra cash, but one observation does not establish a better nighttime income rate.
• Use luck boosts before a run. GameRant notes Luck Potions "make fossil finds kinder," and the 2x Luck Potion lasts 30 minutes — described as a solid window for a fossil run. The session's player also bought a "lucky clover" for over a thousand coins (he lost track of the exact price). Working codes can hand out coins and boosts of this kind — the current list lives on the codes page.
• Let digs fund the gates. Digs pay coins directly, and buried treasure adds more. The observed session ground Cambrian digs (plus a bit of fishing) from 244 coins up to 2,900, bought the bronze shovel, and immediately unlocked digging on the Devonian Island — concrete proof the pay loop feeds the access gates. The next targets were the 12,000-coin shovel and the 4,000-coin boat.

One caution: selling spare fossils is not a confirmed income route. The session's player saw only five-to-ten-coin offers, judged them "not really worth selling," and no completed sale is shown — so don't plan your shovel fund around fossil sales. Digging, bonuses and night sites are the income the evidence actually supports.

Once your first egg is in the incubator, the pattern is set: dig the set, trade it at Dr. Ivy's DNA Lab, and let the next island's fossils — and the full How To Play basics — carry you toward your next dino.