Collections

Natural Science collections have been at the heart of scientific discovery in the field of geology and biology for centuries. Meteorites, dinosaur skeletons, volcanic ash or marine microfossils can help answer questions about evolution, the origin of our planet, the interaction between humans and the natural world and our planet’s climate. Fragments of the Bristol Impact Layer, the fossilised bones of the Bristol Dinosaur or gemstones from across the former British Empire are also a portal into the natural and human history of our own city and tangible object that can connect life in the 21st century with the millions of years of Earth’s history beneath our feet. Natural Sciences collection a wonderful archive and resource for collaborative, interdisciplinary and participatory engagement at both, global and civic scale.

The University of Bristol’s Earth Science Collection is one of those unique natural sciences collections and contains over 100,000 palaeontological, petrological and mineralogical samples of scientific and historical importance. This includes over 1600 type, figured and cited specimens, 10,000 geological thin sections and slides and an archive of international geological maps. An additional 16,000 handling specimens are available for teaching.

We work closely with other collections across the University of Bristol to improve collection storage, management, public access, digitisation and research. One focus point is decolonisation.

Petrological Collections

The petrological collection contains a large variety of over 15,000 samples and is sub-divided into a petrographic collection with thin sections, a meteorite collection, an economic geology collection, a UK regional geology collection and an ornamental building stone collection.

The petrological collection goes back to the early foundation years of the University of Bristol when Geology was first taught. Many of the samples were originally gathered to build up a comprehensive teaching and exam collection, which was an integral part of the geology course. In more recent decades, research material from field based projects in the UK and around the world entered the collection and built up a vast reserve collection.

Meteorite Collection

Meteorites have fascinated humans for thousands of years. Here our chosmochemist Tim Gregory and Collections Manager Claudia Hildebrandt restore an iron meteorite from our University of Bristol Earth Sciences collection and talk you through the history and science of this famous meteorite from South America.

Mineral Collection

The mineralogical collection includes over 5000 exquisite examples of gemstones, ores and beautiful crystals from UK and international localities. The majority was collected by scientists, collectors or mineral dealers in the 18th and 19th century from mines and quarries long since closed.

The mineral collection covers some of the main historic mining areas in the UK. The majority of the samples were collected and donated in the first half of the 20th century. Main collectors include Prof. F. C. Phillips, Prof. D. Dineley, L. L. Fermor, C. Alabaster and C. E. Leese.

Access our user friendly catalogue of mineral specimens.

Fossil Collection

The palaeontological collection contains over 60,000 fossils of which over 1600 have been cited or figured in scientific publications. Many of the fossils are of national and international importance and date back to the 18th and 19th century.

Explore and view some of our type specimens in 2D and 3D via the GB3D project page

Named Collections:

  • The Bristol Dinosaur
    Thecodontosaurus material and associated microvertebrate fossils from Durdham Down and Tytherington.
  • Mike Curtis Collection
    A collection of mainly Rhaetic microvertebrate fossils from localities around SW England. An associated archive of field and lab notebooks, photographs, maps and reprints is available. This collection has been the subject of some detailed research projects recently by undergraduates, which have been completed with a series of publications.
  • Bob Savage Collection
    A collection of mammal remains from Libya and Kenya. Associated archive of notebooks, photos, drawings, maps and reprints available.
  • Hinton Collection
    Cenozoic invertebrate fossils from UK localities. Small archive of correspondence available.
  • Tom Fry Collection
    A large collection of invertebrate fossils and minerals collected and curated by Tom Fry. An archive of reprints and notebooks is available.

  • Smilodon Collection – saber-toothed cat collection

Publications

The publication record of our collection goes back to the early foundation years of the University of Bristol when geology was first taught in 1876. The timeline below summarises the 150 scientific publications that cover over 1600 specimens. 230 of them are type specimens on which the description or name of a new species is based.