sigint_devildog Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 I found this tooth in a dry creek bed in NE Iowa. The area I found it in is unique due to the fact that even though it is surrounded by farmland, the sheer rock bluffs and rock overhangs cut by the little creek over the centuries made this area unsuitable for farming. Northeast Iowa was apparently missed by many of the ice advances during the Ice Age so the area as a whole has a much older surface geology than found anywhere else in the state. The tooth is between 1 1/16” and 1 3/16” in all measurements. It looks too old to be from a cow though I’m sure they have been in the area since first settled. The closest thing I’ve found myself online is a tooth from a prehistoric camel. Any help IDing it would be much appreciated! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DatFossilBoy Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 Hi, I can see this is your first post so I would like to say : welcome to TFF! Some fossils have already been found in lowa so it’s likely a fossil. Just to be sure its a fossil, you can do the burn test: burn a small part of the piece, if there is an smell of some kind, it is not fossilized, if there is not,it is. I would suggest its a mastodon tooth fragment,a type of mammouth ,it would match the info you have, it could also very well be a fossilized cow tooth. Not too sure thoug... I am not an expert. Lets see what the others say. Regards 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyc Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 I think it's a horse molar from one that had a very long life. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sigint_devildog Posted March 18, 2018 Author Share Posted March 18, 2018 4 hours ago, DatFossilBoy said: Hi, I can see this is your first post so I would like to say : welcome to TFF! Some fossils have already been found in lowa so it’s likely a fossil. Just to be sure its a fossil, you can do the burn test: burn a small part of the piece, if there is an smell of some kind, it is not fossilized, if there is not,it is. I would suggest its a mastodon tooth fragment,a type of mammouth ,it would match the info you have, it could also very well be a fossilized cow tooth. Not too sure thoug... I am not an expert. Lets see what the others say. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sigint_devildog Posted March 18, 2018 Author Share Posted March 18, 2018 I suppose it could be from a mastodon but probably could only be from a baby, like a milk molar, since it’s way too small for an adult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 I think it looks like a rhinoceros tooth, but not sure. @Harry Pristis should be able to identify it. Does not look like a horse or cow. Harry said I was wrong. 1 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 Garyc has it . . . a worn-out upper equus horse tooth. Not likely to be a fossil. 2 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...
sigint_devildog Posted March 18, 2018 Author Share Posted March 18, 2018 Harry Pristis, do you think it’s from a Pleistocene horse or a modern domesticated horse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 Domestic horses tend to live longer than wild horses for a number of reasons. This specimen is 30-plus years old. 1 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...
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