California Creek Yields 100,000-Year-Old Mastodon Tooth as Survey Hints at Buried Skeleton
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 19
California Creek Yields 100,000-Year-Old Mastodon Tooth as Survey Hints at Buried Skeleton
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 19
Summary
50,000 to 100,000 years is the likely age of a Pacific mastodon tooth found in a San Mateo County creek, far older than some reports that had put it near 10,000 years.
Brigid Lynch discovered the molar while surveying the Midpen preserve for habitat work tied to the threatened California red-legged frog, initially mistaking the oddly shaped fossil for a rock.
The tooth's intact, fragile roots suggest it was not tumbled far in the stream, leading Pacific Paleontology's Wayne Thompson to say the skull and other bones may still be buried at the site.
Stanford researchers plan to carbon-date the molar and create a 3-D scan and replica, while paleontologists call such an exceptionally well-preserved mastodon tooth extremely rare.