California Scientist Donates 10,000-Year-Old Mastodon Tooth to Stanford for Dating
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Sep 14
California Scientist Donates 10,000-Year-Old Mastodon Tooth to Stanford for Dating
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Sep 14
Summary
A fossilized Pacific mastodon molar found in San Mateo County has been donated to Stanford University, where researchers will use carbon dating to pin down its exact age.
Brigid Lynch, a geomorphologist working at a preserve, spotted what looked like a peculiar rock; paleontologists later identified it as an adult mastodon tooth.
Wayne Thompson called it the most complete mastodon molar found locally and said its unusually intact condition could add a key piece to the region’s Ice Age record.
Pacific mastodons ranged across the American West and disappeared more than 10,000 years ago, with scientists linking their extinction to climate-driven habitat change and human hunting.
The find adds to a recent run of mastodon discoveries, including a jaw unearthed in New York in 2024 and another tooth found on California’s central coast in 2023.