Riverfisher Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 (edited) I found these recently in a river. I know nothing. Are these quality? Can anyone share information about them? Possible age, etc? Edited March 30, 2019 by Riverfisher 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelhead9 Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 These are pleistocene mastodon (mammut americanum) of the highest quality. They have every desirable attribute in a mastodon tooth (color, roots, completeness etc) and appear to likely be associated. I hope you realize what an extraordinary find this is! 1 Still Life Fossils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 wowza!!!! Such beautiful color too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 Those are quite exceptional! The find of a career for many of us. Big congratulations! Are you a regular fossil collector? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverfisher Posted March 30, 2019 Author Share Posted March 30, 2019 (edited) This one doesn’t have the roots. Edited March 30, 2019 by Riverfisher 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 Those are amazing! Incredible finds! 1 Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JarrodB Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 Top quality for sure. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverfisher Posted March 30, 2019 Author Share Posted March 30, 2019 Going to figure out a way to display them under glass, maybe make a wood base for them. Haven’t figured it out yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 Easy- Peasy! You just send them to me and I'll display them in my collection for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 Fantastic find.. Thanks for sharing. You have a four humper and 2 three humpers. That makes up 25% of the teeth this animal might have had. Were the 3 teeth found in close proximity of each other? If so, these are likely associated and the animal dies there. The one without roots may have been in process of development when the animal dies. There is possibly a lot to the story that you could develop, like the approximate age of the animal which had these teeth. @Harry Pristis may have insights. 2 The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 Excellent specimens. The rootless specimen is unerupted, not fully developed (on the interior). Easy to display as is. 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...
Riverfisher Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 (edited) The site keeps on giving. These all fit together perfectly. Edited March 31, 2019 by Riverfisher Add photo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 OK, I forgot to give you my address prior. Let me get that to you right away. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoNoel Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 You are incredibly lucky! Amazing finds! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5 Humper Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 Congratulations on truly amazing, self-found mastodon teeth! Those are some of the best I've ever seen. I imagine that, by now, you know "something." Because each find peaks your interest, and that's how we learn as fossil stewards. I imagine you've done some reading up by now. Were these found in close proximity to one another?? If so, they are likely associated with one animal. And, if so, that animal was on the "cusp" of adulthood. Kinda like a 16-17 year older in human terms. You can tell that based on the presence of your 5-Humper (haha--now you know where I get my name!) without roots and zero wear to the unerupted crown. That molar is a Mastodon's M3, kind of equivalent to a wisdom tooth in human reference. Since the enamel of the tooth was fully formed, you know that it had to be a late teen-ager, so to speak. But since there are no roots yet, you know it's not fully adult. To be that, it would need months or even a year or more for roots to be grown on the M3's. As roots grow, the tooth would emerge out of the gum, slowly over time, etc. And here's more. Your animal, if associated, possessed 12 teeth in its mouth. I see that you have accounted for six of them. I believe that you likely have all the dentition of either the upper or lower jaws, too. I can't quite tell for sure which from the pictures. I lean toward saying they are all from lower jaws. We need some more photo angles on the teeth to tell for sure. But we can get to the bottom of this! Speaking of bottom, you need to get back to the bottom of the river right where you found them. If the river gives twice, then chances are high it will give more. Have you hand fanned some of the loose sediment exactly where your finds were made? There may be more teeth, or jawbone parts buried in sand. The rest of that second 5-Humper is there. Go get em. So--you have a full upper or lower jaw set of teeth. The smallest molars are M1's. They would be pushed out of the mouth while the big 5-humping M3's are erupting out of the back of the jaw. An adult has 8 teeth--4 up top, 4 down low. Since your animal has 12 teeth, that's another line of evidence that we have a mid-late teenager mastodon represented by your teeth. It was in the early transition to adulthood. The two second largest teeth that you have are the M2's. And, based on identical wear pattern to one of the cusps on each tooth, I believe they belong on opposite sides of the same jaw. And I believe the same thing for the M1's, as best as I can glean from photos. All this points toward the teeth being all from either the upper or lower jaw. How are you caring for those teeth? Have they dried completely out yet? Let them do so very slowly in a controlled indoor setting. If they appear crumbly, especially along the roots, you will need to treat or consolidate them. It's what museums and most of us stewards do to our vertebrate fossils. This is a fairly simple process that is needed for many late Pleistocene vertebrate fossils from Florida rivers. Ask if you need pointers.... Hope this helps 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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