Fossilized Raptor
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Look it up on WowheadHow to get it
Made with Archaeology. The Fossilized Raptor is one of the five rare Fossil projects: it has to come up as the character's Fossil project, and is then solved for 100 Fossil Archaeology Fragments. Which project comes up after a solve is chance, so the work is solving Fossil projects until it is the Raptor. The fragments come from the Fossil dig sites of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms or, the way players do it now, from Crates of Fossil Archaeology Fragments, which Brann Bronzebeard at the Seat of Knowledge in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms hands out for Restored Artifacts, the crated finds of Pandaria's and later dig sites.
Chance Never published. After each Fossil solve the next project is drawn at random, one of twelve common ones or one of the five rares (Ancient Amber, Extinct Turtle Shell, Fossilized Hatchling, Fossilized Raptor, Pterrordax Hatchling; wiki). Thirteen reports on Wowhead (2016-2025) give the number of Fossil solves before the Raptor came up: 4, 6, 11, about 11, 25, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 33, 46 and 51, the middle one 26. Those who gave up do not report, so the true middle is higher
Time there about 5 min a visit
Before you go
- Archaeology learned (a trainer in any capital: Harrison Jones in Stormwind, Belloc Brightblade in Orgrimmar) and raised to 600, which the Crate of Fossil Archaeology Fragments asks for. The Raptor's own project asks for far less · about 4 h
- Exalted with The Lorewalkers, for the Mantid Artifact Hunter's Kit: its Mantid Artifact Sonic Locator makes every new Pandaria dig site a mantid one for a day (all of them in Townlong Steppes and the Dread Wastes, small and close together), and its Lorewalker's Map is used first to draw the dig sites afresh. Not needed for the mount itself; the hours of the next step suppose it · about 1.5 h
- Fossil projects solved until the Fossilized Raptor comes up: dig at Pandaria's sites, crate each finished common artifact into a Restored Artifact, give those to Brann Bronzebeard for Crates of Fossil Archaeology Fragments (one each, 5 to 9 fragments), and solve the Fossil projects they pay for. Players report the Raptor after anything from 4 to 51 Fossil solves · about 4 h
- 100 Fossil Archaeology Fragments for the Raptor itself once it is the project; Fossil projects take no keystone, so all 100 are fragments · about 0.5 h
In all: about 10 h of play, starting from nothing.
Getting there
/way Vale of Eternal Blossoms 82.2 29.4 - Take the portal from Wizard's Sanctum to Jade Forest*
- Fly the rest of the way
- Take the portal from Pathfinder's Den to Jade Forest*
- Fly the rest of the way
/way is for the TomTom addon. Travel times are estimates: flying at 55 yards a second in a straight
line and 30 seconds for a portal. A star marks a portal that needs a quest or other unlock done first.
Notes and sources
The journal says only 'Profession: Archaeology'. The item is the Fossilized Raptor (60954), made by the project of the same name (Wowhead spell 90619: Fossil branch, 100 fragments, no keystone). There is no vendor and no drop: the solve creates it. It binds when picked up and has asked for level 17 and Apprentice Riding since patch 9.0.1 (wiki).
There are two routes. The one followed here is the one the comments of 2016-2025 recommend: crate common artifacts into Restored Artifacts and trade them for Fossil crates, which works from skill 600. Where the crates are sold:
- Brann Bronzebeard at the Seat of Knowledge, for 1 Restored Artifact (wiki)
- Grakis in Stormshield and Srikka in Warspear (wiki)
- the Archaeology trainer in Dalaran (a 2024 comment, which counts 5 to 9 fragments a crate)
- wow.gg names 'Legion Dalaran, Ashran, or the Hall of Knowledge'
Brann's own coordinates were not read. The place given above is the spot the Ultramarine Qiraji Battle Tank uses for the Seat of Knowledge (82.2, 29.4, that of the Lorewalkers quartermaster in the same hall), so that the two count as one stop.
Where to dig for the crates is told differently:
- the Mantid method in Pandaria (comments of 2016, 2018, 2020, 2024 and 2025: 'remarkably faster than anything I tried in Legion zones')
- Azsuna or other Broken Isles sites (comments of 2021)
- Kul Tiras or Zandalar (2019, 2025)
The Mantid kit and its map are as described for the Ultramarine Qiraji Battle Tank; a 2016 comment has the kit at two crated artifacts from either quartermaster in the Seat of Knowledge.
The plain route is the Fossil dig sites, which come up among the four active sites of Kalimdor and of the Eastern Kingdoms and are open from skill 1. The wiki counts 13 on each continent: in Kalimdor Un'Goro Crater 5, Desolace, Dustwallow Marsh and Tanaris 2 each, Southern Barrens and Stonetalon Mountains 1; in the east Western Plaguelands 3, Blasted Lands 2 and eight zones with one. wow.gg, whose guide describes only this route, recommends Kalimdor. About a quarter of each continent's sites are Fossil ones (a 2012 comment), so most digging there is at other sites to make a Fossil one appear.
What skill the project needs before it can come up is not settled: the wiki says 150, wow.gg 75, the best-rated comment on the point (2010) says there is none, and players got it at 225 and 300 in 2010. With the crate route the character is at 600 anyway. A rare, once solved, is not offered again (wiki), so each rare solved on the way leaves fewer before the Raptor.
No Wowhead guide is linked: the item page lists the Casual Archaeology Guide (last edited 2018) and a compact list of Archaeology rares (2025), neither a current step-by-step for this mount.
Confidence in this entry: medium. Looked up in 2026.
Sources