The museum receives many enquiries for fossil identification from members of the public.

The museum has approximately 4,000 fossils. Two geological periods are particularly well represented in the collections. The oldest of these is the Carboniferous era from which originates a wealth of plant material dating back 280 million to 370 million years.

The Jurassic period is represented by a wealth of material from the Lias quarries in south Warwickshire. Despite this being the age of the dinosaurs, the museum has very little dinosaur material. Our best dinosaur specimen is the head and jaw of an ichthyosaur discovered at Harbury Quarry in 1933.

One intriguing specimen at the museum is a hippopotamus skull excavated in June 1926 from beneath the Holyhead Road. The specimen is controversial amongst local geologists because it is not mineralised, is light in weight and has preserved almost too well to be a fossil. The more likely explanation is that the creature was from a Victorian zoo and was deliberately buried here no more than 100 - 150 years ago!