Pre-History Trip: Joggins Fossil Cliffs

There’s nothing like digging up good local spots to spend a day. And this week’s write up takes a turn towards prehistory, time before humans and their impact on the world. History is defined exclusively to humanity’s past, with prehistory covering the world’s developments beforehand. Events thousands, if not millions of years ago, have a profound effect on our relationship and understanding of the Earth today. And there’s nothing quite like the excitement of getting to unbury some of that knowledge.

It may come as a surprise to many that Nova Scotia has very rich geological history. One of the main geological or fossil related attractions in the province is none other than Joggins Fossil Cliffs.

The beach at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs. — View from the Joggins Fossil Cliffs beach

About the Joggins Fossil Cliffs

A few weeks ago, I headed up to Joggins, a small town not far from the border of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In Joggins is the UNESCO World Heritage site called Joggins Fossil Cliffs. Joggins Fossil Cliffs are located on the Bay of Fundy, known for having the highest tides in the world. The waves of the tide have exposed 300 million years worth of fossils on the beach, mainly focusing on the Carboniferous Period, nicknamed the “Coal Age”.

About the museum

After about a 2 hour drive outside of Halifax, we arrived at the small museum on the edge of the cliff. There is $10.25 fee to roam the museum and includes a half an hour tour of the cliffs/beach.

We had just missed the special daily two-hour tour ($25 museum admission), and so while waiting for the next half an hour tour, we looked around the museum.

The exhibition

The first and largest of two exhibition rooms consists of a timeline, lots of fossils and artifacts, and a small history about the area of Joggins.

Inside the museum at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs. — Inside the Museum

There is a second room to the side, which looks like an early 20^th century living room. Touching on indigenous presence and coal mining, the museum provides a short summary on the development of the town. The larger focus is scientific, looking at geological and fossil findings from Joggins and elsewhere.

Indigenous history featured in the Joggins Fossil Cliffs museum. — A look at human history in Joggins

The Cliffs

We still had time before our tour after looking around the museum, so we popped down to the beach to take a sneak peak at the cliffs. When exiting the back door of the museum, the stunning view off the cliffs emerges.

View from the Joggins Fossil Cliffs! — View from the Cliffs

To get down to the beach, there are various sets of steps, making the journey not accessible friendly. On our drive down, it rained, so there were lots of puddles and mud.

After the short hike down to the water, the beach and cliffs are yours’s to explore. There are a few precautions that visitors must keep in mind. First is safety. Getting too close to the cliffs is not safe, as often land crumbles away. The museum has hard hats available if you wish to wear one. While exploring, it is important to keep the tide in mind, making sure to leave the beach before the tide comes in completely.

The Joggins Fossil Cliffs is a UNESCO Heritage Site, meaning that it is strictly prohibited to remove anything that you find on the beach. Fossils or artifacts can be brought to the attention of the tour guide or a staff member.

The tour

Our tour was about to start, so we ran back up to the museum. There was a large group waiting. Tour Guide Dana arrived, starting the tour off on an engaging note and with lots of cheesy jokes. Our Tour Guide often inserted stories about himself or his experiences, as he has lived in the Joggins area for quite some time. We returned to the beach as a group, where Dana pointed out different fossils in the cliffs and in rocks found on the beach. He gave some guidelines on how to identify a fossil. Many visitors then parted from the group, with kids running around looking for anything that could be a fossil. Dana was welcoming to all visitors, many bringing rocks up to him to see how he identified them.

Tree trunk on the beach in the cliffs! — Two tree trunks preserved in Joggins Cliffs

We found a few different specimens on the beach, including some faint fossils as well as old china that had washed up on the beach. Symbolic of the mix of history and prehistory, these artifacts reminded us of both the effect past species have had on humanity, and humanity’s effect on preservation of prehistory.

Fossils found on the beach at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs.

China plate pieces found on the beach of the Joggins Fossil Cliffs.

Before we knew it, we had spent a couple of hours at Joggins, and had to be on our way if we wanted to make it to the Fundy Geological Museum before it closed! We packed up in the car, and started on our half an hour drive to the next stop.