PrehistoricWonders Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 Hey, I was wondering what ways to tell whether teeth are modern or fossils, I know there’s the burn test for bones, but I was wondering if there was something like that for teeth? TIA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 Fossilized teeth are mostly black (but not always). More important is to know what modern and fossilized teeth you can encounter in a given place, so it's pure logic. If you see a big reptile tooth, it can't be modern, for example. Or a camel in the US. Or a fish in the woods. Modern teeth are mostly mammal from common animals: dog, cat, horse, cow, etc. So it's good to know how they look in the 1st place My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 In my experience, fossil teeth are NOT mostly black. For a grand example, consider the teeth from Moroccan phosphates or Florida phosphates or from China. RuMert does offer some good advice about distinguishing between fossil and non-fossil teeth: Consider the context of the find. And, as RuMert suggests, know your recent animals. I suggest you build a comparison collection of modern and fossil teeth. 1 http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrehistoricWonders Posted August 27, 2020 Author Share Posted August 27, 2020 2 hours ago, RuMert said: Fossilized teeth are mostly black (but not always). More important is to know what modern and fossilized teeth you can encounter in a given place, so it's pure logic. If you see a big reptile tooth, it can't be modern, for example. Or a camel in the US. Or a fish in the woods. Modern teeth are mostly mammal from common animals: dog, cat, horse, cow, etc. So it's good to know how they look in the 1st place 56 minutes ago, Harry Pristis said: In my experience, fossil teeth are NOT mostly black. For a grand example, consider the teeth from Moroccan phosphates or Florida phosphates or from China. RuMert does offer some good advice about distinguishing between fossil and non-fossil teeth: Consider the context of the find. And, as Rumert suggests, know your recent animals. I suggest you build a comparison collection of modern and fossil teeth. Thank you, I try my best to know first, but I was more talking about teeth that are in the area as fossils and modern teeth. I’ve got a raccoon tooth from Florida, and I was in the tanin stained water so I can’t tell by color, I was wondering what I could do to see if it’s modern or a fossil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 Thanks, Harry @Familyroadtrip, I don't know if there are easy and affordable methods of telling modern and fossilized teeth apart if they look the same. Fossilized material from a given locality usually has a specific manner of preservation. So I'd keep anything that looks in this manner. If there are raccoons in your formation and your tooth looks like raccoon's and has that preservation type, why not accept it's fossilized? My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrehistoricWonders Posted August 28, 2020 Author Share Posted August 28, 2020 The tooth I’m talking about is a raccoon molar from Florida, but if it’s a fossil it’s ice age, so it wouldn’t look to much different for a raccoon molar. The guide we went with couldn’t tell if it was a fossil or modern(he was more of a shark tooth person, and wasn’t a familiar with mammal fossils), but it was in the water, so I can’t go off of color, if you try burning the root of the tooth, would that work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 No, it wouldn't work. Show us images of the tooth. http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrehistoricWonders Posted August 28, 2020 Author Share Posted August 28, 2020 Ok, it’s almost exactly 3/8 of an inch from tip of the tooth to the bottom of the root. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 Root measurements are not useful. Length, width, and (sometimes) height of the enamel crown are significant. If I had found this tooth in the Peace River, I would call it recent just based on its appearance. Recent raccoon remains are far more common than fossil raccoon. 1 http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrehistoricWonders Posted August 28, 2020 Author Share Posted August 28, 2020 Yeah, it was found on the peace river. thanks for the help! The guide said he thought it was modern, but not new either, he thought maybe a couple hundred years old, would you agree with that, or newer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 I think the 'coon died on February 12, 2018 -- just my speculation. Two years or two hundred years old is just not significant when you're collecting fossils. 2 http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrehistoricWonders Posted August 29, 2020 Author Share Posted August 29, 2020 Thank you for all the help!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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