Rowboater Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 While looking for shark teeth in a creek that flows into the Rappahannock River, I found a hole and rooting around found a big tooth with big roots (about 2" long and across). I was pretty excited until I found four more and then decided the tooth were likely from someone's old cow and had washed into this hole along with many small shark teeth. However the enamel are two of the teeth are shiny black (the two biggest have pearloid gray enamel) and I don't have any idea how long it takes for cow teeth to stain, so I figured I would ask the Experts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW9090 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Bison or Bos, could be fossil or modern. Unfortunately, mineralization and color is no guide to age. The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Teeth in our coastal plain tidal rivers can get colored-up surprisingly quickly. Still, these are nice and evenly dark, so they are at least old (as in possibly colonial). That they were not widely dispersed does suggest that they haven't had time to do so, but there is still a sorting effect in moving water that tends to leave things of similar size and density together. We can't even assume that they are from the same source. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowboater Posted January 12, 2015 Author Share Posted January 12, 2015 Wow, that was quick! Thanks for the replies! So there is no morphological difference between fossil and "modern" cow/bison teeth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 ...So there is no morphological difference between fossil and "modern" cow/bison teeth? Separating Bos teeth from Bison is difficult enough in the hand, and not practicably possible from images on a monitor. Certainty is always lacking when the specimens are not found in a dateable strata. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowboater Posted January 12, 2015 Author Share Posted January 12, 2015 Thanks again. Would guess cow teeth "fossils" must be quite common and covered over and over in this Forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 For comparison: 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...
Rowboater Posted January 14, 2015 Author Share Posted January 14, 2015 Thanks for the replies! Found another tooth today in the same creek hole but doesn't look anything like the others. At first I was afraid it was a human tooth, washed down from some cemetery (or worse), but it doesn't match what I see for human. Has two big roots, is triangular shaped, the occlusive surface is flat/ smooth. My pictures are horrible (need to buy a camera) but hopefully you guys know what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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