Tooth and possible tooth - Peace River, FL

[Meganeura]

Going back through my old finds and upon checking some I realized I wasn’t sure if I had them right. First is a tooth - I had it in my “modern” section, AKA not a fossil - but it feels too heavy to be modern, so I figured I should ask. The second I had as a trace fossil, possibly a trace of a barnacle? But I’m really not sure, part of me wonders if its something else due to the patterns.
 

1) Tooth from something:

 

 

 

2) Trace Fossil?

[abyssunder]

The first specimen is a tooth (possibly bovid or camelid), the second looks like two barnacle attached (or maybe just one).

Wait for other opinions. 

Edited June 8, 2022 by abyssunder

[Meganeura]

5 minutes ago, abyssunder said:

The first specimen is a tooth (possibly bovid or camelid), the second looks like two barnacle attached (or maybe just one).

Wait for other opinions. 

For the first would you say it's a fossil then? What's the best way to tell if it's a fossil versus modern for teeth specifically? 

[abyssunder]

39 minutes ago, Meganeura said:

For the first would you say it's a fossil then? What's the best way to tell if it's a fossil versus modern for teeth specifically? 

It depends on several things. 

For me, it looks like a fossil tooth because of the mineralization of it I think I see there, but I could be wrong.

Local collectors may give you a more clear answer. Please wait for their opinion. 

[Meganeura]

16 minutes ago, abyssunder said:

It depends on several things. 

For me, it looks like a fossil tooth because of the mineralization of it I think I see there, but I could be wrong.

Local collectors may give you a more clear answer. Please wait for their opinion. 

Yeah originally I went "Too small, must be modern" - but comparing the weight and general feel to  the bits of horse teeth I have made me think it was fossil, so to TFF I came!

[Shellseeker]

You should get used to seeing this type of tooth... Make sure you remember because if you continue hunting, you will see many of them, If you hunt in Florida, these teeth will usually be deer Odocoileus virginianus (fossil or modern) or larger size (Llama/Camel fossil).

Yours is in the deer size range for the upper cheek teeth.  The length of this jaw section Size:  1" H x 1.96" L x 1.03" W, so each tooth is .6 inch or 15 mm. With this info you should be able to search the internet and find numerous examples of deer teeth this size.

 

Fossil or not,  The Peace River will stain any tooth enamel black in a fairly short time. say 400-500 years. It takes about 10000 years to fossilize a tooth. There are LOTS of deer in Florida today and over the last 10000 years.

There is something called the "burn test". Fossilized teeth do not smell when applying a white hot needle. I do not use it. I just make the judgement on whether I think it i fossil or not.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Shellseeker

[SawTooth]

"fairly short time. Say 400-500 years." I know it's short on the time scale but it's still strange to hear.

[Meganeura]

@Shellseeker thank you! Seems it’s fossilized as it did not burn/smell, so I suppose it’s at least 10,000 years old then! Still really cool to find a fossilized deer tooth, even if it’s not from 3 million years ago!