Overview
A fossil is the one generated structure in Minecraft with no chest, no mob and no mechanism — it is a shape made of bone blocks, buried underground, and its entire value is the material. That material is better than it sounds. One Bone Block crafts into 9 bone meal, and a large fossil spine or ribcage can hold dozens of them, which means a single accidental discovery while strip-mining can supply a farm with bone meal for weeks without killing a single skeleton. Bone blocks are also a genuinely distinctive building block: pale, striped, and directional, so they rotate like logs and make convincing columns, ribs and trim. Because fossils generate in only five biomes and always underground, most players meet one by accident rather than by searching, usually while tunnelling below a desert or a swamp. If you do want to hunt them deliberately, mine long horizontal branches under a desert at cave level and watch for the white against stone; they are large enough that a branch tunnel rarely misses one entirely. Coal ore is occasionally mixed into the bone structure, which is a small bonus rather than a reason to go. Nothing about a fossil is dangerous except the cave you found it in.
Bone blocks in bulk, each worth 9 bone meal for farming, bone meal fertiliser and white dye. The blocks are also a directional, pale building material with no cheap alternative, and some fossils carry a little coal ore alongside the bone.
A buried skeleton of bone blocks shaped like a spine, rib cage or skull, occasionally with coal ore mixed in. Fossils have no chests and no mobs; they exist as a decorative find and as a compact source of bone blocks, which craft down into nine bone meal each and are otherwise only obtainable by killing skeletons. Because they generate underground in specific biomes, most players meet one accidentally while strip-mining under a desert or swamp.
It is uncommon in the Overworld, restricted to Desert, Swamp, Badlands, Wooded Badlands and 1 more, and it generates underground, usually well below the surface layer.
How to get it
Fossils are uncommon and generate underground, well below the surface layer, in desert, swamp, badlands, wooded badlands and eroded badlands only. Strip-mining a 100-block branch tunnel beneath one of those biomes is the reliable method; they never break the surface.
Tips
- Mine the whole skeleton rather than a corner: one large fossil is worth hundreds of bone meal once crafted down.
- Bone blocks are directional like logs, so plan the orientation before you place them if you are using them as trim.
- Search under deserts and swamps at cave level; those two biomes are where fossils are easiest to intersect while tunnelling.
- Nothing in a fossil is hostile, so the only real hazard is whatever cave system you broke into to reach it.
Version notes
Added in 1.10 with bone blocks themselves. Nether fossils, a separate structure in soul sand valleys, followed in 1.16 and use the same block.
Properties
It generates in the Overworld, which is the only dimension with a day-night cycle and weather, and the one every distance in the game is measured against. In a world with cheats on, /locate structure minecraft:fossil gives the coordinates of the nearest one. Without cheats, an explorer map from a cartographer villager is the reliable route for the structures that have one; everything else is exploration.
- Biomes it generates in
- 5
- Notable loot items
- 2
Where it generates
Fossil generates in 5 biomes: Desert, Swamp, Badlands, Wooded Badlands, and Eroded Badlands. Outside those it will not generate at all, however far you travel.
Notable loot
Its loot includes Bone Block and Coal Ore. These are the notable entries rather than the full loot table — the common filler (bread, coal, iron nuggets) is omitted, and in some structures the best of it comes from a vault or a spawner rather than a chest.
What to watch out for
One thing to prepare for before you go in:
- Only the ordinary hazards of the cave system you find it in
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
Do fossils contain any loot?
No chests, no mobs and no items beyond the blocks themselves. Bone blocks and the occasional coal ore vein are the entire reward.
How much bone meal does a fossil give?
Each bone block crafts into nine bone meal, and a full fossil can hold dozens of blocks, so several hundred bone meal from one find is normal.
Which biomes have fossils?
Desert, swamp, badlands, wooded badlands and eroded badlands, always underground. They do not generate anywhere else in the Overworld.
How do I find Fossil?
Fossil generates in the Overworld, only in Desert, Swamp, Badlands, Wooded Badlands and 1 more, and is uncommon. /locate structure minecraft:fossil finds the nearest one instantly with cheats on.
What loot is in Fossil?
The notable entries are Bone Block and Coal Ore.
When was Fossil added?
Fossil was added in Java Edition 1.10.
Related pages
Structures that share Fossil's loot, its mobs or its biomes — not simply the next few in the list.
