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Found on Norfolk beach


leemoo01

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Hi i found this on a beach in Norfolk England, I thought possibly deer or bovine but unsure, there are 2 teeth and are pretty big, they have a lovly blue to them. Thanks in advance

IMG_20201019_155320.jpg

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The occlusal surface (which is the "top" of the tooth) makes me think deer. I couldn't tell you whether or not it's fossilized, you would have to determine that yourself. Some methods include the burn test, where you use a lighter or match to burn a corner of one of the teeth - supposedly if it isn't fossilized it will give off some sort of odor, but if it is it won't smell at all and will rarely have any sort of scorch mark. I've tried the burn test before on some of the isolated mammal teeth I've found and haven't had much luck. You could also try scraping part of the inside of the jaw where the spongy, porous bone is visible with your fingernail. If it crumbles easily, it's most likely not a fossil. If the bone has some weight to it and is pretty solid, it's also probably a fossil. Hope this helps, the colors on those teeth are really nice! 

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The burn test won't work on teeth, only bone, because it is the collagen that burns and it is not present in teeth in enough quantity 

Collagen decays given time, so a lack of it indicates the specimen is likely to be old 

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Definitely the right place to find Quaternary deposits that does yield a lot of Ice Age mammal material . Nice find. 

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It's heavy for its size and I'd say its definitely fossilised, i will weigh it when I get home, I hope it's elk, that would be awesome. I own the page Norfolk Fossil finds uk on Facebook, alot of people find mammoth teeth and all kinds of bones on there. Thanks for the help I will look more into it and get back to you all

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The size alone should exclude an extant local species of deer. Nice!

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It's heavy for its size and I'd say its definitely fossilised, i will weigh it when I get home, I hope it's elk, that would be awesome. I own the page Norfolk Fossil finds uk on Facebook, alot of people find mammoth teeth and all kinds of bones on there. Thanks for the help I will look more into it and get back to you all

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