The Palmetto Paleontology Museum is an organization dedicated to preserving the fossils of South Carolina and raising awareness of the incredible paleo-history locked within the ground of South Carolina’s coastal plain. Our team’s mission was launched more than 40 years ago by a local legend in marine paleontology – Mr. Mark Bunce. Mark, although a humble man, has spent the majority of his life in the field in the search of ancient marine life and has made countless contributions to local science including the creation of The Palmetto Paleontological Society. Mark has also mentored countless individuals in the field of paleontology under the mission that he has long called “Save the Whales.” 

In the Summer of 2018, Mark met a young woman by the name of Skye. Skye, the Founder and President of PPM, would go on to find in Mark the answers to her lifelong questions – “How do we find them and how do we save them.” Questions centered around her immense passion for fossils of ancient sea life that had its roots hooked into her soul from the very start of her childhood. Mark spent the following two years answering Skye’s questions (and they numbered in the millions). In 2020, Mark introduced Skye to the man he would later walk her down the isle to – a former mentee of his by the name of Joshua Basak. The two of them would go on to start one of the most successful fossil guide service businesses in the world through which they learned of the dire need for change in the relationships between industry and paleontology and between the worlds of academic paleontology and that of the every-day collector. They noticed the need for change and began to search for ways to make that change happen.

From 2020 to 2024, their efforts grew from simply saving the fossils to raising awareness across the state of the need to preserve as much of the paleo history of South Carolina as possible. From presenting at other museums to providing educational outreach and building partnerships with industry leaders throughout the Lowcountry, the change that they sought out to invoke became a tangible reality.

Today, their team is responsible for the discovery and excavation of over 200 specimens that include many new species of cetaceans, the most complete Walrus specimen from the Northern Hemisphere, and the only Oligocene aged Rhinoceros east of the Mississippi River Valley. All of which has been dedicated as the founding collection of the Palmetto Paleontology Museum.