Paleontology in Alabama refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Alabama. Pennsylvanian plant fossils are common, especially around coal mines. During the early Paleozoic, Alabama was at least partially covered by a sea that would end up being home to creatures including brachiopods, bryozoans, corals, and graptolites. During the Devonian the local seas deepened and local wildlife became scarce due to their decreasing oxygen levels.
Life became more abundant early in the Carboniferous. Later in the period richly vegetated swamps spread across the state. The amphibians that lived there left behind one of the greatest abundance of fossil footprints from this age known anywhere in the world. A gap in the local rock record spanned the Permian period. During the Triassic the state experienced rifting as Pangaea broke apart. Later, during the Cretaceous, the state was again partially submerged by seawater, where marine vertebrates flourished. On land the state was home to subtropical forests. The sea covering southern Alabama remained in place during the early part of the Cenozoic era. Marine invertebrates and primitive whales lived there. The climate cooled and the seas withdrew until the Ice Age when Alabama was home to mammoths, mastodons, and giant ground sloths.
Major fossil discoveries in the state's history include the 1842 discovery of the early whale Basilosaurus, and a later 1961 discovery of more remains from the same species. The Eocene whale Basilosaurus cetoides is the Alabama state fossil.