Please help ID this

[Honeybell8]

Hello everyone. My husband and I found this today while combing the creek bed of the Escondido Creek located in Encinitas, California, USA. We believe it is a tooth. It looks quite old, however I am not sure whether it is fossilized. We are not fossil hunters or collectors, just everyday amateurs who stumbled upon this find. Any help identifying it would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

 

 

  

[Coco]

Hi,

 

Horse tooth.

 

Coco

[Honeybell8]

@Coco Thank you. That would make sense as this was a ranching area colonized by German farmers in the 1800s.

[Harry Pristis]

For comparison:

 

[Honeybell8]

@Harry Pristis Thank you! Yes, my equine veterinarian confirmed it is an adult horse molar. She said it would have come from a deceased horse. (The horse molar has such a long root that it does not typically fall out during the horse’s lifetime.) Do you know if there is any way of determining the age of such an object?

[Harry Pristis]

Not any way easily accessible.  Collectors usually rely on appearance and context of the find.  For example, in Florida the rivers produce many mineralized (the cementum wrap) horse teeth, but relatively few modern horse teeth.  The recent teeth are most often missing the cementum and the enamel remains whitish -- like your tooth.  Of course, yours is not a Florida river tooth, though I suspect that the same factors apply to California river teeth.