Hey. I’m Nilson, the guy behind Code Black Fossils.

What started as a COVID hobby almost immediately turned into a passion (or an obsession, depending on who you ask), one that I think is worth sharing.

The idea for Code Black Fossils came to me on a solo creek hunt in early December, 2022. It was a particularly bountiful hunt, and I kept thinking there had to be a better way to share my finds than just posting pictures on social media, especially with Christmas right around the corner. By the time I got home, I had a plan: fossil dig kits.

The first iteration was fairly simple – burlap sacks with hand drawn labels and a welcome sheet explaining what hunters could expect to find. I rebranded a dormant IG page to document past and future hunts and threw some pictures up to act as an ID guide. In the days leading up to Christmas, I sold over 50 kits (and donated several more), purely through Facebook and word of mouth.

Over the years, the products have been refined and the lineup has expanded, but I still owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to those early supporters who trusted me to come through with solid products and not rip them off.

I’m far from the only person to sell fossils. It’s a wonderful community full of people who are just as passionate as I am, but I think Code Black has something special to offer: the most informative with the best variety of fossils, tied together by a cohesive and stylish aesthetic, all offered at a fair price.

Finding fossils isn’t always easy. It takes time, effort, patience, and money. There’s always risk involved, whether it’s a face to face encounter with a shark, alligator, or snake; falling and breaking a bone in the middle of nowhere; getting tangled in a downed tree or other obstacle while diving; getting stuck out at sea or stranded downriver with a boat engine that won’t start; or one of any other countless problems that could arise in the field (especially solo, as I often am). But it’s a passion, a labor of love, and it’s truly a joy to be able to share the fruits of that labor with others, especially if it means getting kids into science and conservation and maybe, just maybe, toward making the world a better place.

Thanks for the support and for taking the journey with me.

– Nilson