AETHUS Ancient Bones: How to Get Them and Complete Trudy's Contract

Ancient bones in AETHUS come from fishing in the swamp pools around Facility Lambda or by cracking open swamp geodes at a prospecting bench. You need three ancient bones to complete Trudy's Buried History contract at the trade node.

Where to Find Ancient Bones

Ancient bones are fossil remains located exclusively within the Lost World biome. Players encounter these remains while exploring around Facility Lambda and the submerged marshes nearby. Unlike standard ores that drop directly from wall nodes or surface veins, ancient bones require specific extraction equipment.

The two confirmed methods for acquiring ancient bones are casting a fishing lure into the swamp waters of Facility Lambda and processing swamp geodes at an Outpost prospecting bench.

Method 1: Swamp Fishing at Facility Lambda

Swamp fishing offers the most direct route to gathering ancient bones. To fish in the murky pools, craft a fishing lure at your Outpost electronics workbench using one Tangrite Bar, one Basic Electronics, and one Anti-Gravity Tech component.

Equip the lure on your hotbar and travel down to Facility Lambda in the Lost World. Stand along the water's edge and cast the lure directly into the dark swamp ponds. Each successful catch pulls up items from the local loot pool. Alongside ancient bones, you can pull up related fossil components such as ancient skulls, ancient jaws, ancient ribs, and ancient tails, as well as swamp geodes, tools, and petroleum cans. Learning how to fish effectively ensures you maintain enough lure uses to complete your collection.

Method 2: Processing Swamp Geodes

Swamp geodes collected from node mining or swamp salvage can contain ancient bones. After gathering swamp geodes, return to your base and interact with the prospecting bench.

The prospecting mini-game requires you to load the geode sample and blast away the outer layers with your laser to reveal the core material. Clearing away surrounding debris without exhausting your allotted attempts yields the prize inside. Investing in best upgrades at the Trade Node, such as the prospecting lens for 30,000 credits, grants two extra attempts per session to improve your extraction yield. Practicing prospecting allows you to turn excess geodes into rare gems and bone fragments.

Extraction Method Comparison

Trudy's Buried History Contract

After completing initial trade requests for items like mysterious eggs and microcircuits, Trudy contacts your Outpost terminal with a delivery contract from the Archaeology Research Center. She requests three ancient bones to advance your standing in the Astral Resource Corporation partnership program.

Keep quest items visible in your inventory and avoid selling raw ancient bones through standard trade tabs before fulfilling the contract. Once you deposit three ancient bones at the terminal, Trudy confirms delivery, advancing your standing toward partnership level four. Completing the buried history quest rewards credits and opens access to the partners' lounge aboard the Aethus 1 space elevator.

Placing Ancient Bones in Your Base

Beyond contract turn-ins, ancient fossils serve as decorative display pieces. Version 1.028 enabled full placement support for ancient bones, allowing you to position individual vertebrae, skulls, and spiked tails inside your habitat rooms or research modules alongside collectible Jenkins dolls.