Reunited and it feels so good...

[caldigger]

Well I was bored and started looking at a box of bones and such scraps that I had brought back from my last trip to Sharktooth Hill in California last Summer (I tend to collect just about everything that looks like something from the sifter).

As I was scrutinizing what's what, I discovered two pieces fit together and Shazam, an Allodesmus tooth!!!  I quickly glued it back together and now have a nice piece. Lesson learned: it sometimes pays to revisit your finds with a fresh pair of eyes.

[joshuajbelanger]

I was actually looking through my first finds today.  Bunch of beat up megs and garbage, but then I found a really nice inner ear whale bone, probably didn't even know what it was at the time.  Thus far it's the only one I've found.  

[Ludwigia]

Yup. I often take the little ammos home as well. Most of them are just inner whorls and end up in the gift box, but occasionally I first discover during prep that I've got a unique one. It really pays off to look a bit closer. Great tooth!

[ynot]

Nice save Doren!

Always good to double check.

[jcbshark]

Nice find Doren: ) I learned a while back to bring it all home, I can always toss the junk later

[RJB]

What a nice surprize.  always nice when something works out even if it was not planned. 

 

RB

[SailingAlongToo]

5 minutes ago, jcbshark said:

Nice find Doren: ) I learned a while back to bring it all home, I can always toss the junk later

 

When in doubt, bag it. I try to avoid wasting hunting / collecting time on trying to decide exactly what unknowns are or if they are worth taking home. Once at home I have plenty of time to sort it out. Which might be why we have 16 five gallon buckets and bunches of gallon zip lock bags full of stuff from last year and this winter, waiting for us to go through, clean and catalog.

 

At home, I've thrown lots of broken or random pieces of fossils in the drainage creek behind the house. One day, someone is going to find all that stuff and think they have an amazing lag deposit covering about 70 MYs.  What's going to make it even more exciting for them is the drainage creek has been "improved" which means COMPLETELY lined with rip rap, bottom and sides. I can see them piling up the head sized pieces of granite in order to "fossil hunt."  

[JohnBrewer]

Throw the dog some scraps Dorren @caldigger, I'll pay the bus fair 

 

i do do the same and give the bits that aren't useful to me I give to my daughters school. They've got quite a collection now and it's on the curriculum for 8 year olds here. Being the lower grade end and not valuable scientifically the kids can handle them. No bother if some break, they get at good supply.  

[siteseer]

Caldigger,

 

That looks more like one of those oddball whale teeth that would loosely be called "dolphin."  It's not a dolphin in the sense that it belongs to a modern group but it was a medium-sized toothed whale of the time that might have looked like a weird dolphin to modern eyes.  

 

Yeah, always pick up everything and sort it out later.  You usually don't find the other half but it only happens when you pick up everything.  I have found pieces of stingray spine that fit together - never amounts to a whole one but I keep going for that.

 

Jess

 

 

[caldigger]

I see what you mean about being "dolphin like". Kinda looks like one, but in much larger scale.  If I was to get proper measurements, could I get a better ID than a medium sized cetacean?

[caldigger]

Oops, my bad!  The tooth measures out to just two inches.  Here is a picture of it in comparison to the other dolphin teeth I am used to finding.  As you can see why dolphin wouldn't have entered my mind. However, a dolphin-like cetacean would definitely be in order here. Any further ideas on a better ID?  @Boesse

 

 

[ynot]

Hey Doren @caldigger

I have 2 that are identical to Your big one except that they are 1 inch. I also have several of the smaller ones.

If I remember correctly, @Boesse said they are porpoise as dolphin arose at a later date. He also said that it is problematic to give an id as the tooth shape was present in many species.

 

Edit-- Guess I do not remember to good. Just read Boesse's post below.

[Boesse]

Hey all,

 

True porpoises (Phcooenidae) are not really common until the late Miocene in California, and are unknown from Sharktooth Hill (and virtually all east coast fossil sites, for that matter). This is some kind of large odontocete tooth - 5 cm is quite large. The only odontocetes with enameled teeth approaching this size in the California fossil record are probably going to be kentriodontids - teeth commonly identified as "Prosqualodon" are probably kentriodontids, in my opinion.

[caldigger]

Thank you Bobby!  Now I can put some sort of name to the face if you will.