Excavation
Excavation is Primal Idle's fossil-digging activity, run from the Excavation panel on the Delving page. Expeditions and cave delves occasionally turn up a biome's Dig Site Map; spending a map starts a real-time dig at that biome's site, which delivers a crate of common fossils, Delving XP, and — roughly one dig in eight to twelve — the skull of a species that lives in that biome. Skulls are the keys to the Museum.
How excavation works
edit- Get a Dig Site Map. Maps drop from that biome's patrols (uncommon), its Guardian (several times more often), and its cave delves (best rate). Each map is specific to one biome.
- Start a dig. At the Excavation panel, spend a map to begin a dig in that biome's site. The biome must be unlocked.
- Wait it out. A dig runs in real time on the game clock and continues while you are away — offline time counts in full. Durations climb up the biome ladder, from 30 minutes at the first site to 90 minutes at the last.
- Collect. When the dig finishes it auto-delivers straight to your bank: a crate of common fossils, Delving XP scaled to the dig's length, and a chance at a species skull.
Dig slots. You can run more than one dig at a time — you start with one and unlock more at Delving 25, 50 and 75 (up to four). A fifth slot comes from the Echo of the First Warden relic (the Amber Door's unique). A finished dig can also auto-restart: if you have another map of that biome banked, it re-runs on its own, so a stack of maps digs itself.
What you find
editCommon fossils
editEvery dig delivers a crate of common fossils. The crate deepens up the biome ladder: early sites give mostly bones, mid sites add ribs, vertebrae, claws and plates, and the deepest sites can turn up amber.
| Fossil | Sell value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fossil Bone | 20 | The staple; every dig produces several. |
| Fossil Rib | 35 | Common from the first sites on. |
| Fossil Vertebra | 55 | From the Murkwater site onward. |
| Fossil Claw | 80 | From the Scorched site onward. |
| Fossil Plate | 120 | From the Frozen site onward. |
| Amberized Insect | 200 | Only from the two deepest sites. |
Species skulls
editEvery completed dig has a chance to surface a species skull, drawn evenly from the creatures that live in that biome. The odds curve by site, from about 14% at the earliest sites down to about 8.6% at the deepest (the early biomes have the biggest species pools, so they're made a little kinder). There are 57 skulls in all — one per species. Skulls sell for a tidy sum, but their real purpose is the Museum.
No wasted digs: a skull-less dig instead banks a Field Journal page for that biome (a duplicate skull banks several), and the Curator's Desk trades those pages for a skull of your choice from that ground — so a bad-luck streak just becomes a guaranteed skull a little later. See Museum.
Delving XP
editEach dig grants Delving XP scaled to how long it took — longer, deeper digs award more.
Dig sites
editThere is one dig site per biome. Longer digs at deeper sites yield richer crates.
| Biome | Dig site | Duration | Delving XP | Skull chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grasslands | Sunken Barrow | 30 min | 600 | 14.0% |
| Redwood Wilds | Rootbound Boneyard | 37 min | 740 | 13.4% |
| Murkwater Swamp | Peatlock Trench | 43 min | 860 | 12.8% |
| Cavern Depths | Echoing Ossuary | 50 min | 1,000 | 12.2% |
| Scorched Badlands | Scorched Wash | 57 min | 1,140 | 11.6% |
| Coral Shallows | Reefbed Shelf | 63 min | 1,260 | 11.0% |
| Frozen Wastes | Permafrost Cut | 70 min | 1,400 | 10.4% |
| Ashen Peaks | Cinder Terraces | 77 min | 1,540 | 9.8% |
| Skyreach Plateau | Skyfall Scree | 83 min | 1,660 | 9.2% |
| the Sundered Vale | The Shattered Bed | 90 min | 1,800 | 8.6% |
See also
edit- Delving — the skill that runs digs and sets your slot count.
- Museum — where skulls and fossils become skeletons.
- Expeditions and Caves — where Dig Site Maps come from.
