The search for evidence of past life is likely to be an important part of Martian exploration. Unfortunately, the number of potentially fossiliferous outcrops at any landing site may be quite large, and it would be advantageous to have some automated way of ranking those outcrops with respect to their paleontological potential. The Deployable Instrument Package for Paleontological Research (DIPPR) is designed to perform such a function. DIPPR consists of a family of one large and four small rovers carrying arrays of cameras and spectrometers for outcrop characterization. The large rover would be responsible for long-range observations, heavy computational tasks, and transport of the smaller rovers. The smaller rovers would have the capability to approach outcrops closely and perform more detailed scans. Outcrop characterization protocols would involve a progressively updated calculation of ‘paleontological probability index’, a semi-quantitative measure of the likelihood that a particular outcrop may contain fossils. Ultimately, DIPPR would produce a paleontological probability map of the landing site, which could be used by astronauts to determine how best to plan extravehicular excursions for fossil hunting. While designed to be used by astronaut teams working on Mars, DIPPR also could be operated remotely from Earth with relatively minor design modifications.