Can Anyone Identify This Tooth?

[Tibbs]

Hello,

I am not very educated on fossils. Yesterday I was walking a creek bottom looking for arrowheads and ran across this large tooth. I have no idea what its from or how old it could be. It is very heavy and stone like so I am sure its a fossilized tooth. I have attached pics

[Fossildude19]

Hello Tibbs, and Welcome to the Forum!

I'm no expert on Mammals, but it may be from a bison .

You may want to search the forum for those, or do a google image search.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php/gallery/image/6960-bison-tooth/

I'm sure the experts will weigh in on this soon!

Great Find, ... and thanks for sharing!

Regards,

Edited July 13, 2010 by Fossildude19

[worthy 55]

That looks like a lower tooth from a horse.

Welcome to the forum.

Well, at least I had the horse part right .

Edited July 13, 2010 by worthy 55

[Tibbs]

Can anyone tell me how old a tooth has to be to become a fossile? This may sound like a stupid question but quite honestly I do not know. Can a horse tooth from say 1910 become a fossile by 2010? Or does it take thousands of years?

[Auspex]

There are a bunch of answers, all valid in their own way.

Heavy mineralization does not, in and of itself, a fossil make. Some folks think something has to be 10,000 years old (a fairly arbitrary age, denoting "prehistoric") before something can rightly be called a "fossil" (younger than that and they refer to it as a "sub-fossil"). Others want it to be from an extinct species to qualify.

[Fruitbat]

The tooth is an upper second premolar (P²) of a horse, Equus sp.. It is probably Pleistocene (ice age).

-Joe

[PrehistoricFlorida]

Fruitbat is correct.

[mark newton]

I've found plenty of horse teeth over the years. I'd bet a trip to lee creek that it's a horse. Bison , actually all bovine teeth are distinctly different from horses. It's all about the grooves. Once you know the difference, you'll never ask again

[Coco]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me how old a tooth has to be to become a fossile? This may sound like a stupid question but quite honestly I do not know. Can a horse tooth from say 1910 become a fossile by 2010? Or does it take thousands of years?

This question was already approached, and it seems that the Americans and French have not the same idea on the border between fossils and more recent objects.

In France, we consider that all the objects dating period before the arrival of the human are fossilized. If an object is dated before the appearance of the man, we speak about no more fossils, but of prehistory.

For example, if a tooth of bear was found in a fancient cave, with rests of human bones, it will not be fossilized, it will "be prehistoric".

In France, we can collect fossils, but the prehistoric objects are protected. We have no right to collect them. It is thus important for us to know the age of our samples! If we collect prehistoric objects, we can have big fines.

Coco