Weird Kem Kem tooth

[iow673]

This tooth was picked up on fieldwork in Morocco in a mining village called Begaa. So it's provenance is certain.

It is very very strange. I have shown it to many experts in the field, and all have come back with 'i don't know'.

The root-crown boundary is just at the start of the orange discolouration.

 

I am thinking crocodile or sauropod? But any input or ideas would be great! 

 

It is not fabricated in anyway. I have soaked it in acetone and looked at it down a microscope to see any joins... there aren't any! And it's completely free of matrix. So it is definitely real... just really frickin' weird!

 

 

each square = 2mm, so specimen is about ~2mm in height 

Edited September 14, 2018 by iow673

[Haravex]

@LordTrilobite and @Troodon Maybe you have seen something like this before outside the kem kem beds, But honestly I too have never seen anything like this before, and I have been and excavated many times before.

 

Also do you mean 2cm in height? and can you take a picture on the base of the root to get an idea on shape and profile?

[Innocentx]

Very strange. What does the flat end look like?

[LordTrilobite]

I'm wondering what the bottom end looks like as well. Is it broken off?

 

I think you might be right in thinking it's some type of bizarre tooth.

[iow673]

1 hour ago, Haravex said:

@LordTrilobite and @Troodon Maybe you have seen something like this before outside the kem kem beds, But honestly I too have never seen anything like this before, and I have been and excavated many times before.

 

Also do you mean 2cm in height? and can you take a picture on the base of the root to get an idea on shape and profile?

I do mean 2cm thankyou

 

not the best photo but you get the idea!  The base isn't broken at all, actually looks like it's been reabsorbed a bit.  

It's just a very very strange tooth!

 

all the specialists have decided it is a tooth... but from what is another story! I put it on here hoping someone may have seen something similar before, even if it was from somewhere else!

[caldigger]

Maybe you might get lucky and be able to name a new one.

(not saying it is, but if you've consulted many experts with a shrug as an answer, the possibility is there). 

[Pemphix]

Maybe a disfunction in the teeth-growing or a trauma may lead to such "crippled teeth" , too.

There are examples and some of them even with a picture in the forum.

But never saw such one from Kem Kem.

 

 

[Innocentx]

@iow673 This surface in your last photo seems very different from other tooth roots. Is it the root??

[iow673]

58 minutes ago, Innocentx said:

@iow673 This surface in your last photo seems very different from other tooth roots. Is it the root??

It is definitely the root. 

Roots should have enamel and dentine on them.. and the kem kem stuff has sometimes been highly polished due to the fluvial system they are deposited in. 

[iow673]

5 hours ago, Pemphix said:

Maybe a disfunction in the teeth-growing or a trauma may lead to such "crippled teeth" , too.

There are examples and some of them even with a picture in the forum.

But never saw such one from Kem Kem.

 

 

i think most times the teeth are deformed it is obvious because they are structurally 'unsound'. as in they look like they are malformed. I think this isn't something like that due to how symmetrical and perfect it is