Ginger Island hides an entire museum’s worth of ancient bones, and Professor Snail wants every last one of them. The Island Field Office display uses 11 unique fossil pieces split across four creatures, scattered through almost every part of the island.
Unlocking Ginger Island and the Island Field Office
Before any fossil hunting, you need access to Ginger Island itself and to Professor Snail.
| Step | What to do | Cost / requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Reach Ginger Island | Finish the Community Center (or Joja route equivalent), then repair Willy’s boat in the back of his shop. | 200 Hardwood, 5 Battery Packs, 5 Iridium Bars |
| Open the Dig Site | From the island dock, walk north to the tent area; to the left is a broken bridge guarded by a parrot. | 10 Golden Walnuts to repair the bridge |
| Rescue Professor Snail | In the Dig Site, the cave entrance at the top is blocked by a boulder. Blow it up. | Any bomb (Cherry Bomb, Bomb, or Mega Bomb). Explosive Ammo does not work. |
| Use the Island Field Office | After the rescue, Snail moves to the tent north of the Dig Site. Donate fossils at the desk and answer survey questions on the back wall. | Always open; no further cost |
Professor Snail’s collection needs 11 fossil pieces:
- Large Animal: 6 pieces (Skull, Spine, Ribs, Tail, 2× Leg)
- Snake: 3 pieces (Skull, 2× Vertebrae)
- Frog: 1 piece (Mummified Frog)
- Bat: 1 piece (Mummified Bat)
Luck does not influence fossil drop rates, so you can search on any in‑game day without worrying about the TV forecast.
Large Animal fossil locations
The Large Animal skeleton is the most demanding set, with six separate bones found through several mechanics. The Field Office and game data treat it as one “Large Animal” display, even though the TheGamer piece frames it as a “large mammal.”
| Piece | How many | Where it comes from | Key details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fossilized Skull | 1 | Golden Coconut | Crack Golden Coconuts at Clint’s Blacksmith in Pelican Town. One possible reward is the Fossilized Skull. |
| Fossilized Spine | 1 | Dig Site river & south beach | Fish in the Dig Site river or dig Artifact Spots (wiggling “worms”) on the southern Ginger Island beach where Willy’s boat docks. |
| Fossilized Ribs | 1 | South beach & Dig Site bone nodes | Most reliably from Artifact Spots on the southern beach; also a rare drop from bone nodes at the Dig Site. |
| Fossilized Tail | 1 | Dig Site river (panning) | Use the Copper Pan on sparkling panning spots in the Dig Site river. |
| Fossilized Leg | 2 | Dig Site bone nodes | Break bone nodes with a pickaxe at the Dig Site. These are rocks with bones protruding; the brown variants with a spiral have slightly higher leg odds. |
How to get Golden Coconuts for the Fossilized Skull
The Fossilized Skull is locked behind Golden Coconuts, which work like geodes with a Ginger Island loot table.
- Shake or chop palm trees on Ginger Island for a chance at Golden Coconuts.
- Dig Artifact Spots anywhere on the island; they can also yield Golden Coconuts.
- After you unlock the Island Trader, you can trade 10 regular Coconuts for 1 Golden Coconut.
- Golden Coconuts must be brought back to Clint in Pelican Town; there is no way to crack them on the island itself.
Once you’ve broken at least one Golden Coconut, the Fossilized Skull becomes one of the possible drops.
Snake fossil locations
The Snake skeleton uses three pieces and is almost entirely tied to Ginger Island West, the area with Birdie and the Island Farm.
| Piece | How many | Where it comes from | Unlock needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snake Skull | 1 | Artifact Spots in Island West and the Dig Site, or fishing in Island West waters | Spend 10 Golden Walnuts on the parrot by the turtle blocking the western path from the starting beach. |
| Snake Vertebrae | 2 | Artifact Spots in Island West; also rare from mussel nodes and other rocks there | Same Island West unlock as above |
The practical approach is:
- Clear debris in Island West (rocks, weeds, and especially mussel nodes along the shore) so Artifact Spots can spawn freely.
- Check Island West every day and dig any Artifact Spots with your hoe.
- Fish in the ocean, river, or ponds in Island West when there are no Artifact Spots; the Snake Skull can come up as a fishing treasure.
Completing the Snake display at the Field Office awards:
- 3 Golden Walnuts
- 1 Mango Sapling (plus a second Mango Sapling after you’ve otherwise collected every Golden Walnut via the Golden Joja Parrot)
Mummified Frog location
The Frog fossil is simple: there is only one item, the Mummified Frog.
| Piece | How many | Where it comes from | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mummified Frog | 1 | Ginger Island jungle (east side) | Cut weeds in the jungle just east of the docks and in the forest below Leo’s hut. |
Walk to the right from the dock beach to enter the jungle. Use a sword or scythe and clear every patch of weeds. The Mummified Frog is a random drop from these weeds; if it doesn’t appear, let more weeds regrow and try again later.
Turning in the Mummified Frog rewards:
- 1 Golden Walnut (or 1 Cookout Kit if you already used the Golden Joja Parrot to claim all walnuts)
Mummified Bat location
The Bat fossil works the same way: a single item, the Mummified Bat, but with a much worse drop rate.
| Piece | How many | Where it comes from | Drop rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mummified Bat | 1 | Volcano Dungeon rocks | 0.5% (roughly 1 in 200 rocks broken) |
The Volcano Dungeon is at the very north of Ginger Island. Any floor can drop the Mummified Bat when you break rocks there, though higher floors see more rock density and therefore more chances per day.
To speed this up:
- Bring your strongest pickaxe so you can break rocks in one or two hits.
- Carry bombs and clear large clusters of rocks at once.
- Focus your time on rooms with lots of breakable tiles rather than chasing combat.
Donating the Mummified Bat gives:
- 1 Golden Walnut (or a Tent Kit if the Golden Joja Parrot has already cashed out all walnuts)
Finding fossils twice and what to do with extras
Fossil pieces are not unique. If you accidentally sold or trashed one before donating, it can drop again from the same activity:
- Repeat Artifact Spots, fishing, panning, or rock-breaking in the relevant areas.
- Nobody in Stardew Valley tracks “found once” for these items; they stay in the loot tables.
Once the Field Office display is complete, extra fossils still have uses:
- You can sell any fossil piece for 100g each.
- You can put fossil items into a Bone Mill to convert them into random fertilizers like Speed-Gro and Deluxe Speed-Gro after completing the “Fragments of the Past” Special Order.
Island Field Office survey answers (purple flowers and starfish)
Professor Snail also runs two “Island Survey” questions at the back of the Field Office. Each one, answered correctly, yields a Golden Walnut.
| Survey | Question | Correct answer | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purple Flowers | How many purple flowers grow on Ginger Island? | 22 | 1 Golden Walnut |
| Purple Starfish | How many purple starfish are on the island’s beaches? | 18 | 1 Golden Walnut |
You can attempt each survey once per in‑game day. A wrong answer simply locks that survey until the next day.
All rewards for completing Ginger Island fossils
The fossil systems layer several reward tracks on top of each other: per‑creature rewards, survey rewards, and a final unlock for full completion.
| Objective | What you must complete | Reward | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large Animal collection | All 6 Large Animal pieces | 6 Golden Walnuts, 1 Banana Sapling | If all walnuts are already claimed via the Golden Joja Parrot, you receive only the Banana Sapling here. |
| Snake collection | Snake Skull + 2 Snake Vertebrae | 3 Golden Walnuts, 1 Mango Sapling | Similarly, with the Golden Joja Parrot used, this yields only the Mango Sapling. |
| Mummified Frog | Donate the single Frog fossil | 1 Golden Walnut or 1 Cookout Kit | Cookout Kit replaces the walnut if the Golden Joja Parrot already provided all walnuts. |
| Mummified Bat | Donate the single Bat fossil | 1 Golden Walnut or 1 Tent Kit | Tent Kit replaces the walnut if walnut rewards are exhausted. |
| Island Surveys | Answer both survey questions correctly | 2 Golden Walnuts total | One walnut per completed survey. |
| Full Field Office completion | All four fossil displays plus both surveys | Ostrich Incubator recipe | Learn the crafting recipe permanently. |
The Ostrich Incubator is the real long‑term payoff. It lets you hatch Ostrich Eggs inside a barn, producing full‑grown ostriches that lay eggs roughly once a week. Crafting one incubator requires:
- 50 Bone Fragments
- 50 Hardwood
- 20 Cinder Shards
An Ostrich Egg sells for 600g at normal quality and turns into a stack of ten Mayonnaise in a Mayonnaise Machine, making ostriches one of the strongest late‑game barn animals on a per‑tile basis.
Finishing Professor Snail’s collection takes time, but once you know that each fossil is tied to a specific corner of Ginger Island—south beach Artifact Spots, Dig Site bone nodes and river, Island West Artifact Spots and fishing, jungle weeds, and Volcano rocks—the hunt becomes a predictable loop instead of a blind grind. After that, the island’s bones quietly turn into one of Stardew Valley’s most profitable animal operations.
