Help Needed In Fossilized Mandible Identification

[crh26]

Hello everyone,

I'm hoping the community can help me in identifying two fossilized mandibles. Both were purchased in Alaska, but their origin is unknown. I've been told they were mastodon, but the teeth look dissimilar to images I have seen online.

The first image is the larger of the two, measuring 6" H x 14" L x 8" D. The second image is the smaller of the two, measuring 5-1/2" H x 9-1/2" L x 4" D.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thank you,

Christy H.

[finderskeepers]

I see some similarities with this mammoth jaw in your first photo. The white portions in the bottom of the socket look like the roots of teeth rather than a whole molar. These are just a few observations but I have no expertise whatsoever on this subject.

http://www.fossilmall.com/Pangaea/pverts/verfossil1/Mam1d.jpg

[Diceros]

The top photo could be of a mammoth or mastodon jaw fragment, but one without any teeth. The bottom photo is a side-view of a mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) tooth, with the broken roots on top, anterior at left, and the side of the tooth at the bottom (it's too high-crowned for a mastodon tooth). You need to prop the tooth up so that the flat occlusal surface on which it's sitting (like the nice one in finderskeepers' photo), can be seen (the "money shot" of any mammal tooth). You might want to soak both of the specimens in hardener, so they don't fall apart more than they already have. Once hardened, you might also try to see if the tooth fits in the toothless jaw fragment. My guess is that the broken-off bottoms of the roots of the tooth are still in the lower jaw frag., in the top-right of the upper photo. I'm picking up a bit of the old "Blind Men and the Elephant" story here.