Fossil Fields: a working dig

Walk a palaeontology dig from trailhead map to finds lab: survey line, twelve grids, trackway trail, jacketing row and camp.

About

A working fossil dig on open ground, walked south to north: trailhead map, base camp with observation camp and hide, survey line of tripods and datum posts, twelve excavation grids with sieves and tools, a trackway cast trail, the hero fossil excavation with its plaster jacketing row, and the finds lab of core racks, crates and sketch tables.

Every design in the 42 piece pack is placed, most several times: grids, ropes, datum posts, chutes, sieves, screens, all ten fossil fragments, hides, seats, tables, tripods, stands, screens, crates, racks, tubes, trays, journals, waymarkers, ribbons, caches, cradles, jackets and both composed scenes.

Nothing in this pack ships animation clips, so every placement rides the default and nothing moves. That fits the subject: plaster, hand tools, crates and camp furniture are still objects, and the dig reads as a crew paused at midday rather than a machine room.

Nothing was left out: at 42 designs the whole pack fits the place, so there is no exclusion list. The two composed scenes anchor camp and hero square, and every small find sits on a grid, tray or table top, never loose on the walkway.

Every piece here is a published model from the pack, placed by hand. Walk with the keys or touch, and approach a piece to see it move if it has animation. Colliders, navigation and gameplay are yours to add.

Points of interest

Trailhead map
The folding map board shows the whole dig: camp behind you, survey line ahead, squares to the west and the trackway east. Grab the layout, then walk north past the waymarkers.
Folding Map Board (Prehistoric Expedition Sites)
Base camp
The observation camp sleeps the crew: supply caches stacked by the path, crates of kit, the drying frame for wet gear, and the wind ribbon showing what the dust will do today.
Expedition Observation Camp (Prehistoric Expedition Sites)
Watching without disturbing
The observation hide and camouflage screens face the dig so recorders can watch a live square all day. The lookout seat, binocular stand and periscope cover the far ground.
Observation Hide (Prehistoric Expedition Sites)
Survey line
Tripods, datum posts and measuring frames pin every find to the site grid before it moves. The photo stand, tagging station and sketch table record each specimen where it was lifted.
Tripod Survey Frame (Prehistoric Expedition Sites)
The squares
Twelve excavation grids roped and staked, with sieves, washing screens, spoil chutes, trowels and brushes left where the crew left them. Rib, jaw, vertebra and shell fragments sit half exposed in the dust.
Excavation Grid (Prehistoric Expedition Sites)
Trackway trail
A line of trackway casts snakes north, each crossed by a measuring frame for stride and gauge. The survey tripod and photo stand at the side log every print before lifting.
Trackway Cast (Prehistoric Expedition Sites)
Jacketing row
The fossil excavation is the hero square, and beside it the jacketing row: plaster jackets setting over bone, four more lifted into cradles ready for the truck, all inside the rope.
Fossil Excavation (Prehistoric Expedition Sites)
Finds lab
The north end processes everything: core racks and sample tubes, stacked crates, the tagging station, sketch tables with trays of ammonite, egg and jaw fragments, and the map board with the day notes.
Core Sample Rack (Prehistoric Expedition Sites)

Use with an AI agent

Copy this prompt into your AI chat to rebuild the layout, then describe what to change.

Rebuild the "Fossil Fields: a working dig" demo scene from the Prehistoric Expedition Sites pack in my project.

Layout (JSON, every placement with its CDN URL): https://3dassets.dev/api/v1/demos/prehistoric-expedition-sites
Pack manifest: https://3dassets.dev/api/v1/packs/prehistoric-expedition-sites
Demo page: https://3dassets.dev/demos/prehistoric-expedition-sites

- 221 placements of 42 models; units are metres, +Y up, rotation is yaw in degrees about +Y
- Spawn at (0, 0, 23) facing 180 degrees; eye height 1.6 m
- Licence: CC0 1.0 Universal (no attribution required)
- Loading: three.js GLTFLoader, one load per distinct model, cloned per placement; no decoders required

Also available as JSON or Markdown, and via the MCP server.

Common questions

How do I use Fossil Fields: a working dig with my AI development tools?

Press "Copy for AI agent" above and paste the prompt into Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT or any other coding assistant. The prompt carries the direct CDN URL, the real-world size, the licence and the loading notes, so the assistant can fetch the scene and place it in your project without you writing the loader yourself. For a permanent connection, add the 3DAssets.dev MCP server to your tool with one command (for Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http 3dassets https://3dassets.dev/mcp) and the assistant can then search the whole catalogue, fetch files and read the usage snippets on its own.

MCP server setup Guide for AI agents

How do I get started?

Walk the scene here with the keys or touch to see how the pack fits together. To build it yourself, download the pack with the button, then copy the "Copy for AI agent" prompt: it links the layout JSON, which lists every placement with its position, rotation and CDN URL, so an assistant connected to the MCP server can rebuild the scene in your engine and change it to order.

MCP server setup

Which game engines and tools can I use Fossil Fields: a working dig with?

Anything that reads glTF, which today means all of the major ones: three.js and React Three Fiber on the web, Godot 4, Unity, Unreal Engine 5, Blender and the model-viewer web component. Every model in the scene is a self-contained binary glTF (.glb) with textures embedded, so each is one file to import and no plugin, converter or decoder to install first.

How do I import this scene into Unity, Godot, Unreal or Blender?

Unity: install the glTFast package (com.unity.cloud.gltfast) from the Package Manager, drop the .glb into Assets and drag the prefab in, or load it at runtime from the CDN URL. Godot 4: copy the file into the project folder and the editor imports it as a scene you can instantiate. Unreal Engine 5: File > Import with the built-in glTF importer, which converts the axes for you. Blender: File > Import > glTF 2.0. Units are metres with +Y up in the file, and every importer above handles the conversion to its own axes automatically.

Can I use Fossil Fields: a working dig in a commercial game, and do I need to credit anyone?

Yes to commercial use and no to credit. Every scene on 3DAssets.dev is released under CC0 1.0 Universal, which places it in the public domain: use it in a paid game, an app, a film or a client project, modify it, redistribute it, and put nothing in the credits. A link back is welcome but it is entirely your choice.

CC0 licence text

Can I load it from the CDN instead of downloading it?

Yes. The pack behind it has a permanent URL on cdn.3dassets.dev that is CORS-enabled and never changes content, so you can pass it straight to GLTFLoader, glTFast or model-viewer in production and cache it as hard as you like. Downloading is only needed for engines that import from disk.

Is the demo itself a file I can download?

No, and it does not need to be. A demo is a layout of the pack's published models composed in your browser from the CDN, so there is no extra file to fetch. Download the pack for the models, and take the layout JSON linked above for the placements: together they are the whole scene, and an AI agent can rebuild it from those two links.

Can I change the scene, or add gameplay to it?

Yes. The layout is plain data in metres, so move, add or remove placements freely in your own engine. Colliders, navigation and gameplay are yours to add: the demo shows what the pack looks like assembled, and your game decides how it plays.

Models in this demo

Expedition Waymarker (Prehistoric Expedition Sites)

Expedition Waymarker: original weathered survival equipment with explicit construction and metre-scale dimensions.

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