Look, let’s be real. Arthur Morgan is a busy man. Between dodging Pinkertons, keeping a dying camp fed, and wondering why Dutch has "one more plan" that involves a boat, the last thing he should probably be doing is scouring the desert for rocks. But here we are. You’re likely here because you met Deborah MacGuiness, a woman with a very specific, very time-consuming obsession with prehistoric fossils. She wants 30 of them. And honestly? Without a solid dinosaur bones rdr2 map strategy, you’re going to spend fifty hours looking at dirt in the Heartlands and come up with nothing but a few herbs and a grumpy horse.
The scope of this "A Test of Faith" stranger mission is actually kind of ridiculous when you look at the geography of the game. Rockstar didn't just tuck these away in easy-to-spot caves. They put them on cliff faces that require mountain-goat-level platforming and tucked them into crevices that you’d miss even if you were standing three feet away. It’s one of those completionist tasks that separates the casual players from the people who actually want that 100% trophy.
Why the Dinosaur Bones RDR2 Map is a Tale of Two Halves
Here is the frustrating part that most people realize too late: you can't actually finish this mission as Arthur. Well, not without some serious glitching that usually gets patched out anyway. Out of the 30 bones, 22 of them are scattered across the "main" part of the map—places like New Hanover, Ambarino, Lemoyne, and West Elizabeth. The remaining eight? They’re deep in New Austin. If you try to ride down there as Arthur, the "invisible sniper" or the bounty hunters will turn you into Swiss cheese before you even smell the desert air.
This means you’re playing a long game. You’ll spend the first few chapters picking up fossils near Horseshoe Overlook and the Grizzlies, then you’ll have to wait until the epilogue to finally hand over the goods. It’s a bit of a slow burn.
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The Heartlands and the Early Easy Wins
If you’re just starting out, stay near the Heartlands. There’s a bone sitting right on a grassy ridge that overlooks the oil derrick. It’s probably the easiest one in the game. You just stand there, look at the view, and realize there’s a ribcage under your boots. Another one is tucked away near Dewberry Creek. Most players find these by accident while hunting for deer, but the difficulty spikes fast once you head north.
The Grizzlies are a nightmare. Period. Navigating those cliffs while trying to cross-reference a dinosaur bones rdr2 map on your phone is a recipe for a dead horse. There is one bone located on a narrow ledge at O'Creagh's Run that has claimed more lives than the O'Driscolls. You have to slide down a specific rock face, and if your momentum is off by a fraction, Arthur is going for a long, final bounce.
Breaking Down the New Austin Cluster
Once you finally get control of John Marston and the map opens up, you’ve got to head south. New Austin is sparse, hot, and incredibly rugged. This is where the hunt actually gets interesting because the landscape is so much more vertical.
The bones here are clustered around Gaptooth Ridge, Rio Bravo, and Cholla Springs. There’s one in particular near Jorge's Gap that’s hidden in a little canyon. It’s easy to miss because the lighting in the desert can wash out the textures of the fossils. You'll want to use Eagle Eye constantly. Seriously. Bind it to something comfortable because those little yellow particles floating off the ground are the only thing that will save your eyesight.
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The Weirdness of Deborah MacGuiness
Can we talk about Deborah for a second? She’s a "paleontologist," but her reconstruction of the dinosaur is... questionable. Without spoiling the ending of the mission, let’s just say she’s not exactly following the Smithsonian's guidelines. When you finally deliver all 30 locations and visit her at her ranch in Firwood Rise, the "Quartz Skeleton" she’s built is a monstrosity.
But that’s the charm of RDR2. It captures that 19th-century spirit of "scientific discovery" where people were just making things up as they went along. It’s why you’re doing all this work. Plus, you get the Deborah MacGuiness Invitation, and eventually, the Bone Knife. Is a unique knife worth 30 hours of fossil hunting? In any other game, maybe not. In Red Dead, absolutely.
Pro Tips for Navigating the Hunt
Don't just run blindly. You'll burn out.
- Time of Day Matters: Hunt for bones during the twilight hours or at night. Why? Because the gold "glow" of Eagle Eye stands out much more sharply against dark ground than it does in the bright noon sun.
- The Cinematic Camera Trick: If you have a general waypoint from a map, set your horse to cinematic mode. It won't find the bone for you, but it’ll get you to the vicinity without you having to micromanage the steering through the trees.
- Manual Saves are Your Friend: Before you try to climb a cliff for a bone in the Cumberland Forest or the Grizzlies, save the game. The "physics" of sliding down rocks can be unpredictable.
Why People Actually Care About This
It isn't just about the trophy. The dinosaur bones rdr2 map takes you to corners of the world you would otherwise never see. There’s a bone on a high ridge in the Hennigan’s Stead area that offers probably the best sunset view in the entire game. You’d never go up there for a mission. You’d never go up there to hunt. You only go there because a crazy lady wanted a fossil.
Rockstar used these collectibles as a way to force players to appreciate the environmental art. Every time I find a bone in a remote cave or on a wind-swept peak, I'm reminded that some developer spent three days of their life meticulously placing rocks in a spot that 90% of players will never visit. It’s a love letter to the map itself.
The Reality of the "All Bones" Rewards
Let's manage expectations. After you find the first bone and mail the coordinates, you get a Quartz Chunk. You can use this to craft the Bear Claw Talatman at a Fence, which reduces your Health Core drain by 10%. That’s actually useful.
After 15 bones, you get a Skull Statue. It’s worth some money, but by the time you’ve found 15 bones, you’re likely already rich from gold bars or stagecoach robberies. The real prize is the completion of the mission and the unique Bone Knife at the very end.
The Bone Knife has a handle made from a literal fossil. It’s one of the coolest-looking melee weapons in the game, and it’s a genuine status symbol for RDR2 players. When you see someone using it in a clip, you know they’ve put in the miles.
Common Misconceptions About the Locations
A lot of people think the bones are inside caves. Only a few are. Most are just part of the rock geometry on the surface. If you’re spending hours inside every hole in the ground you find, you’re wasting time.
Also, the "map" you see online can be misleading regarding elevation. A dot on a flat map doesn't tell you if the bone is at the base of the cliff or at the very top. Usually, if you can't find it at the waypoint, look up. Rockstar loves putting these things on ledges that require a bit of a scramble to reach.
Next Steps for the Fossil Hunter
- Check your Log: Make sure you’ve actually spoken to Deborah MacGuiness first. The bones won’t be interactable until the mission is active in your log.
- Clear the Heartlands: Knock out the easy ones around Flatneck Station and the Heartlands Oil Fields while you’re still in Chapter 2 or 3.
- Mail in Batches: You don't have to find all 30 to get rewards. Stop at any Post Office once you have 1 or 15 to get your intermediate prizes.
- Save the Epilogue for the Rest: Don't try to glitch into New Austin as Arthur unless you really enjoy frustration. Use the natural progression of the story to finish the hunt as John.
- Visit Firwood Rise: Once the 30th bone is mailed, wait 24 in-game hours for her invitation to arrive. If it doesn't show up, sleep at a camp or take a train to a different state to reset the world state.
The hunt is long, but seeing that 100% checklist finally tick over is a feeling you can't beat. Happy digging.