Jump to content

An Interesting Tooth


megateeth

Recommended Posts

I made it out today. I never found one like this. This tooth looks like it would fall apart in your hands. It should break into four pieces by touching it. I have found several that look like it. Except this one is VERY solid. There is no movement at all in either side of the root or the blade. I put a lot of pressure on it and it is not the least bit loose. I wonder if it was falling apart before it was fossilized and was stabilized during fossilization?

post-1309-1250218648_thumb.jpg post-1309-1250218657_thumb.jpg

Two nicer teeth.

post-1309-1250218664_thumb.jpg post-1309-1250218678_thumb.jpg

All the nice ones the Mako is 3".

post-1309-1250218686_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bizarre tooth! I'd love to see it in the hand.

"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

I have a thought. You could be right and it may have fallen apart and then fossilized but perhaps before then it was also BITTEN from both sides (upper and lower) by the meg that lost the tooth. :wub: I mean look at the angle of the missing chunks. If that's true that would be SO awesome!

The soul of a Fossil Hunter is one that is seeking, always.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice set of teeth.

I agree with the broken then fossilzed. I guess you can wire it up for a necklace easier :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

maybe from reworked strata. fossilized, then ocean receded, then stepped on by a mammoth, then ocean came back, then more fossilization, then you found it, and now waiting for ocean to come back and fossilize you holding it.

sorry, but hey, that's the way the old mind works...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An extreme example of feeding damage?

The tooth doesn't look deformed.

So i don't think it was broken during the fossilisation process or after that.

Gr Jeroen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

maybe from reworked strata. fossilized, then ocean receded, then stepped on by a mammoth, then ocean came back, then more fossilization, then you found it, and now waiting for ocean to come back and fossilize you holding it.

sorry, but hey, that's the way the old mind works...

I hope I am dressed nice. I would hate to fossilize in a t-shirt and swim trunks. Imagine going through a few million years like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An extreme example of feeding damage?

The tooth doesn't look deformed.

So i don't think it was broken during the fossilisation process or after that.

Gr Jeroen

Not deformed so it may have fossilized after cracking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a thought. You could be right and it may have fallen apart and then fossilized but perhaps before then it was also BITTEN from both sides (upper and lower) by the meg that lost the tooth. :wub: I mean look at the angle of the missing chunks. If that's true that would be SO awesome!

That could be. I will look for serration marks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bill, it looks like to me that as it was fossilizing, it was also cracking and seperating. Maybe a good candidate for a museum if you ever chose to.

Also, you seem to be finding a lot of teeth and I bet you have just about run out of room down there in Richmond Hill. I'll shoot you my address here and I would be glad to display, er I mean store them for you! ya, that's what I meant, store them. LOL :drool:

Hey Bill, it is pretty much you feeling your way there the bottom for teeth? visibility about 6 inches or so? do you have to "dig" your hands into the bottom? Curious, as I hope to next year dive in the Cooper or another river at a deeper depth.

" This comment brought to you by the semi-famous AeroMike"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bill, it looks like to me that as it was fossilizing, it was also cracking and seperating. Maybe a good candidate for a museum if you ever chose to.

Also, you seem to be finding a lot of teeth and I bet you have just about run out of room down there in Richmond Hill. I'll shoot you my address here and I would be glad to display, er I mean store them for you! ya, that's what I meant, store them. LOL :drool:

Hey Bill, it is pretty much you feeling your way there the bottom for teeth? visibility about 6 inches or so? do you have to "dig" your hands into the bottom? Curious, as I hope to next year dive in the Cooper or another river at a deeper depth.

Hi Mike,

I would always display anything I had in a museum. I just think what I have is fairly common. 6" is rare even with my 40W light. Today I did not have one inch the whole time. I hear the Cooper is better though. Thanks for the storage offer. I will give it some serious thought.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So no one thinks it was notched by an Indian and used as a spearhead?

THere is an area near the Houston ship channel that has produced a couple of hundred fossils that were reworked into Indian tools.

What is geology? "Rocks for Jocks!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So no one thinks it was notched by an Indian and used as a spearhead?

THere is an area near the Houston ship channel that has produced a couple of hundred fossils that were reworked into Indian tools.

That's a good thought. Perhaps, but I would agree some force created it and I don't think it was just by being bashed against some rocks on the sea floor or the damage would have not been so precise and centralized.

It sure is a conversation piece and I would get a professionals' opinion on it.

Man, I would love to hunt where you do. Send me a pm and we can talk about it. I know you are probably worried about liabilty issues but I'd be happy to sign a waiver. I probably will never get down that way anyway but it would be nice to have a contact like you if I ever did. And I never give away locations, unless I have the permission of the person who showed me the site.

Anyway, keep those beautiful megs coming :D

The soul of a Fossil Hunter is one that is seeking, always.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Mike,

I would always display anything I had in a museum. I just think what I have is fairly common. 6" is rare even with my 40W light. Today I did not have one inch the whole time. I hear the Cooper is better though. Thanks for the storage offer. I will give it some serious thought.

LOL in all seriousness, I like the tooth and it is unique. That is why I said "Museum".

Maybe this winter time, we can get together and dive the Cooper. I hear in Oct-Nove. time visability is supposed to be a lot better. I'll just have to hook up with someone here that has a boat.

" This comment brought to you by the semi-famous AeroMike"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LOL in all seriousness, I like the tooth and it is unique. That is why I said "Museum".

Maybe this winter time, we can get together and dive the Cooper. I hear in Oct-Nove. time visability is supposed to be a lot better. I'll just have to hook up with someone here that has a boat.

I would like that. Phoenix and a couple of others have suggested getting together for a dive. I think that would be pretty cool. People from the forum could hook up and try to charter an entire boat either near the Cooper or Venice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a good thought. Perhaps, but I would agree some force created it and I don't think it was just by being bashed against some rocks on the sea floor or the damage would have not been so precise and centralized.

It sure is a conversation piece and I would get a professionals' opinion on it.

Man, I would love to hunt where you do. Send me a pm and we can talk about it. I know you are probably worried about liabilty issues but I'd be happy to sign a waiver. I probably will never get down that way anyway but it would be nice to have a contact like you if I ever did. And I never give away locations, unless I have the permission of the person who showed me the site.

Anyway, keep those beautiful megs coming :D

I would like an opinion from an expert as well. I think it broke while the shark was feeding and somehow stayed together long enough th fossilize. The indian idea is not possible since no one could make it break like that and stick together. Also where I find teeth there are no fossils. The indian would have had to shoot it into the river where a bunch of other fossils lie. Also it is way too large to be a spearhead.

I think it would be cool to get a bunch of divers from the forum together for a dive. The cooper or Venice would be perfect since the vis would probably be better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would like an opinion from an expert as well. I think it broke while the shark was feeding and somehow stayed together long enough th fossilize. The indian idea is not possible since no one could make it break like that and stick together. Also where I find teeth there are no fossils. The indian would have had to shoot it into the river where a bunch of other fossils lie. Also it is way too large to be a spearhead.

I guess when you already have found more of these that damage during feeding is the most likely explanation. I was wondering if the damage could be done be the shark itself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

personally, i don't think the damage is from feeding. and i think perhaps that one of the "experts" you might seek out is a structural engineer, since engineers are the ones with the most knowledge of how materials stress and break.

unless the shark had some sort of "brittle bone" disease with a mineral deficiency of some kind causing weakness, i don't see how it could bite hard enough to put enough centralized pressure on the top middle of the root to break and fold upward a bit both root lobes. And then there also appears to be force applied from the labial surface creating a central crack and shattering the enamel. how could the shark biting down on something create such force in several planes to shatter the tooth without damaging any of the edge or tip of the tooth? and if the "feeding damage" was from the tooth being loose and getting in between other teeth and being bitten so hard where are the bite marks? i do note that there's a "depression" of some kind in the lingual side of the tooth, but not sure what it is.

I keep wondering what could have reorganized your tooth and i keep wondering how to eliminate geologic processes, but...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

personally, i don't think the damage is from feeding. and i think perhaps that one of the "experts" you might seek out is a structural engineer, since engineers are the ones with the most knowledge of how materials stress and break.

unless the shark had some sort of "brittle bone" disease with a mineral deficiency of some kind causing weakness, i don't see how it could bite hard enough to put enough centralized pressure on the top middle of the root to break and fold upward a bit both root lobes. And then there also appears to be force applied from the labial surface creating a central crack and shattering the enamel. how could the shark biting down on something create such force in several planes to shatter the tooth without damaging any of the edge or tip of the tooth? and if the "feeding damage" was from the tooth being loose and getting in between other teeth and being bitten so hard where are the bite marks? i do note that there's a "depression" of some kind in the lingual side of the tooth, but not sure what it is.

I keep wondering what could have reorganized your tooth and i keep wondering how to eliminate geologic processes, but...

My thought was the shark bit down on the tooth while it was being shed. you are correct about the bite marks though. As for an expert, I guess there really is not one, just a lot of people smarter than me with best gusses ;) .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, tracer, there are a lot of different dynamics going on with this tooth. I don't think they all happened at once. Perhaps one may have been feeding damage, perhaps not. But it is evident that somethings have happened to this tooth as you have pointed out. :)

The soul of a Fossil Hunter is one that is seeking, always.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

personally, i don't think the damage is from feeding. and i think perhaps that one of the "experts" you might seek out is a structural engineer, since engineers are the ones with the most knowledge of how materials stress and break.

unless the shark had some sort of "brittle bone" disease with a mineral deficiency of some kind causing weakness, i don't see how it could bite hard enough to put enough centralized pressure on the top middle of the root to break and fold upward a bit both root lobes. And then there also appears to be force applied from the labial surface creating a central crack and shattering the enamel. how could the shark biting down on something create such force in several planes to shatter the tooth without damaging any of the edge or tip of the tooth? and if the "feeding damage" was from the tooth being loose and getting in between other teeth and being bitten so hard where are the bite marks? i do note that there's a "depression" of some kind in the lingual side of the tooth, but not sure what it is.

I keep wondering what could have reorganized your tooth and i keep wondering how to eliminate geologic processes, but...

I have found teeth with a root lobe loose like that but it is falling off and not at all stable. Either way this is a cool conversation piece and I appreciate the thoughts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The indian idea is not possible since no one could make it break like that and stick together. Also where I find teeth there are no fossils. The indian would have had to shoot it into the river where a bunch of other fossils lie. Also it is way too large to be a spearhead.

I know a couple of guys that would swear on the holy bible that the tooth is "worked." With that being said you have a lot more experience with how teeth break and what not, but I wouldn't completely abandon the Indian artifact idea. I've found two arrow head preforms in the last 4 years that were made out of fossil wood instead of chert so anything seems possible. :rolleyes:

What is geology? "Rocks for Jocks!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know a couple of guys that would swear on the holy bible that the tooth is "worked." With that being said you have a lot more experience with how teeth break and what not, but I wouldn't completely abandon the Indian artifact idea. I've found two arrow head preforms in the last 4 years that were made out of fossil wood instead of chert so anything seems possible. :rolleyes:

are you saying your fossil wood isn't chert?

sorry, i'm just trying to give you artiflack...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know a couple of guys that would swear on the holy bible that the tooth is "worked." With that being said you have a lot more experience with how teeth break and what not, but I wouldn't completely abandon the Indian artifact idea. I've found two arrow head preforms in the last 4 years that were made out of fossil wood instead of chert so anything seems possible. :rolleyes:

Here is the thing. I found this tooth in a hole 40 feet down that is loaded with fossils, but no Indian artifacts. Also the fossil layer here is deep (close to 40 feet) not like say in Summerville where they find teeth near the surface. So an Indian would have to come up with a tooth from somewhere and then toss it into a river 40 feet down where there just happens to be a bunch of fossils. I also do not know where they would have come up with something to stick it back together with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...