Mammuthus tooth

[fgiarro]

Hello- I've got this tooth from Mammuthus sp from Hungary (I'm not sure of the exact species, but I don't think is from a M. primigenius). It's not perfectly prepared, and I'd like to clean the sediments between lamellae: since I don't have a sandblasting tool, is it possible to use other easier ways to clean it up? thanks in advance, Fabio

[Troodon]

Can you tell if the sediment has been hardened by a preservative?  

[fgiarro]

thanks for reply- The tooth doesn't seem treated with any preservative

[Troodon]

Not aware of anything easy the only process is mechanically.  Can you remove it slowly with an xacto knife or dental pick.  Acetone might soften it.

[fgiarro]

many thanks Troodon

[Svetla]

Hi, try with vibro rock thumbler!

[abyssunder]

About the ID, it looks more like a southern mammoth (Mammuthus meridionalis) molar, rather than a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) molar. Try to compare with these ones :

 

[caldigger]

3 hours ago, Svetla said:

Hi, try with vibro rock thumbler!

 

I wouldn't go near that thing with a machine that will shock it into shards.  Hand methods would be your safest.  The plates are just held together with dentin and could easily fall apart if subjected to vibrational shaking. Better safe than sorry.

[fgiarro]

Hi abyssunder, about ID I agree with your opinion- Thanks for the link (very useful), actually I didn't know the precise number of lamellae used in proboscidean taxonomy (as written in wikipedia article) for species identification- For curiosity, I post a picture of a juvenile molar (10 cm) from Belgium, that I bought as a M. trogontherii (maybe ID is also wrong for that one)- regards

[abyssunder]

It looks like almost a "spit tooth" not a juvenille one of a columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi). Here is one from Harry Pristis's collection :

 

 

 

[Fruitbat]

Not likely to be Mammuthus columbi if it is from Hungary.  M. columbi (as far as I know) is strictly an American species.

 

-Joe

[fgiarro]

Agree with Joe, the small tooth comes from Belgium (Pleistocene), M. columbi is an american species

[RJB]

Sandblasting isn't always the best way to prep.  it all depends on not only the hardness of the material but the hardness of the tooth too and even just how 'sticky' the material is on the tooth.  Air abrading can leave 'burn' marks on the specimen?  Air scribe marks can also be left behind but can be controlled to leave as little as possible.  I hope this helps and I wish you all the best in cleaning up this specimen. 

 

RB

[LordTrilobite]

19 hours ago, abyssunder said:

About the ID, it looks more like a southern mammoth (Mammuthus meridionalis) molar, rather than a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) molar. Try to compare with these ones :

 

I agree with this. woolly mammoth have more tightly packed lamellae. Southern mammoth is more likely.

 

 

I once prepped a woolly mammoth jaw that had a kind of crust that looked similar to what you seem to have here. I prepped it with dental picks. It worked pretty well but took a long time due to the crust being really hard.

 

So I'd say start with some mechanical prepping with dental picks and see how that goes.

[Ptychodus04]

If you have an air scribe and a steady hand, you can scribe the matrix off without damaging the tooth. My experience with mammoth teeth (granted quite limited and only from Texas specimens) is that the matrix is usually quite hard and the dentin quite fragile. Great care needs to be taken or it will crumble. I use quite a bit of PVA to stabilize as I go in order to keep the vibrations from wreaking havoc on the specimen.

[abyssunder]

On 10/9/2016 at 11:21 AM, fgiarro said:

Agree with Joe, the small tooth comes from Belgium (Pleistocene), M. columbi is an american species

The fact that it comes from Belgium not exclude the possibility that it was found in North America. We don't know where it was found. Right?  I know a site, with online sales of beautiful specimens, where almost everything is misdated or wrongly identified...