Huge tooth! Any ideas guys!

[litefire56]

Last year, while attending the Spoon River Festival in SW IL. I came across a specimen of what I believed was a Mastodon tooth. The owner of the small shop had no idea what it was and stated that he bought it from an estate auction in the area. I ended up with it for $30 and was very pleased. It doesn't look like a Woolly or a Mastodon tooth. About 8" long by 4" wide. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

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[greel]

Looks to be a mammoth tooth. Great buy!


-greel

 

[litefire56]

No clue,but it's very interesting.Is that like...the root into the jaw bone on that first photo ?

________________________________________

Yes, there are roots for every pair of cusps. The dark band would be the gumline,

 

[bomber]

AWESOME!

 

[recoiljunky]

Cool!

 

[podope]

I think that is not a fossil.
It is a recent elephant tooth. (Loxodonta africana)

 

[Harry Pristis]

I think that is not a fossil.
It is a recent elephant tooth. (Loxodonta africana)

I think that's probably a good guess.

Whatever elephant this is from, I hope you've stabilized the tooth. It looks like it is ready to fall apart. If not, it must be soaked in a consolidant soon or you'll have nothing but pieces. Duco Cement in acetone may be your best option.

 

[bravowhiskey]

Harry,

What would be the proper mix of the duco cement to acetone? That is good information for all of us that remain unschooled.

Thanx,
BW

 

[Harry Pristis]

This is from my earlier thread, "CONSOLIDATING TEETH AND BONES."

Posted Jun 18, 2009, 03:32:02 PM

Here a technique for consolidating (impregnating with plastic) mammal teeth and bones with some easily-purchased materials.

N.B. There are other sorts of teeth and bone which may benefit from such preservation, but it's usually not necessary nor is it desireable to consolidate shark teeth.

What not to do: Don't use varnish or polyurethane. Polyurethane will not give the desired penetration of the fossil. Putting polyurethane on a fossil is usually a bad idea.

I recommend against white glue (polyvinyl acetate) as a consolidant because there are better materials available. Rarely, a specimen cannot be dried without it crumbling, and white glue is the only reasonable answer. In my experience, white glue is messy and never looks good when the specimen is fully-prepared. (Normal prep lab dilution of white glue is one part water to two parts glue.)

A much better material for bone is a polyvinyl butyral plastic such as Butvar-76, but that material is hard to find in small quantities. I have used this plastic, dissolved in acetone, for many types of fossils. (I have used it successfully on Silurian-age shales with brachiopods, for example.) It penetrates well, and in the proper dilution it produces a "damp-looking" finish with no gloss.

Butvar-76 (but not other Butvar varieties) is also soluble in alcohol. (I assume that is denatured alcohol that you can buy in gallon cans.) I have never tried this solution for consolidation. The alcohol would take considerably longer to boil off the treated specimen.

So, what works that is available? I recommend a solution of Duco Cement (colorless, like model airplane glue) in acetone.

Dilution? Start with a tube of glue dissolved in about eight ounces of acetone in a glass jar. Shake well.

Adjust the solution with more acetone until, after shaking, the tiniest air bubbles are just slightly retarded in their rise to the surface.

I usually heat specimens with an infra-red lamp to drive off moisture just before dipping the fossil. I do this with all sorts of fossils, and have never had one damaged by the heating. The untreated specimen is always at least as wet at the relative humidity of the air around it, I suppose. (A microwave oven may be as effective, but I've only dried glass beads for my air-abrasive unit.)

Do NOT heat the acetone solution directly. The acetone solution will get warm after dipping a number of heated fossils. You must have good ventilation to deal with the fumes!

I use a long-jawed forceps -- ten-inch tweezers, really -- to dip and/or retreive the fossils from the jar.

Ideally, you would submerge the dry specimen in this consolidant for a brief time (say 15-30 seconds, or until the specimen stops fizzing). Set each wet specimen aside to dry on cardboard (I use beer-flats).

For a specimen too thick to be submerged, you can use a turkey-baster to flood the difficult areas. I treated an adult mammoth tibia that, because of its size, I dried in the Florida sun, then used the baster to pump consolidant into every opening of the bone.

I use the glass jar to submerge smaller fossils -- whatever will fit through the mouth of the jar. For larger fossils, I use a RubberMaid-type cake-pan to hold the consolidant for this soaking step - that plastic seems to be impervious to the acetone. Get 'em at your local dollar-store.

Acetone evaporates very quickly. Replenish the consolidant mixture with a bit of acetone if you are using it on many specimens. Store it in a tightly sealed glass jar. Even if some acetone evaporates away between uses (it always does, it seems), you can reconstitute the solution by replacing the acetone.

Acetone is a nasty solvent. The fumes are explosive. The fumes are toxic. The liquid penetrates the skin-blood barrier. It's best to use gloves. Use in a well-ventilated area.

--------------Harry Pristis

 

[silvercop]

 

[litefire56]

Just wanted to follow up on this thread. I had this verified as a Mastadon molar by Dr. Gregory M. Erickson of FSU.

http://www.bio.fsu.edu/faculty-erickson.php

Thanks!

 

[Harry Pristis]

Just wanted to follow up on this thread. I had this verified as a Mastadon molar by Dr. Gregory M. Erickson of FSU.

http://www.bio.fsu.edu/faculty-erickson.php

Thanks!

LOL Either Greg Erickson is kidding you, or you are kidding us. Your tooth is NOT from a mastodon. The quickest peek inside a book or a website will tell you that it is NOT from a mammutid (mastodonts), but IS from an elephantid (elephants and mammoths).

Greg Erickson would not have made such a newbie mistake, so I think you must be trying to pull our collective leg. Nice try!

 

[litefire56]

Just wanted to follow up on this thread. I had this verified as a Mastadon molar by Dr. Gregory M. Erickson of FSU.

http://www.bio.fsu.edu/faculty-erickson.php

Thanks!

LOL Either Greg Erickson is kidding you, or you are kidding us. Your tooth is NOT from a mastodon. The quickest peek inside a book or a website will tell you that it is NOT from a mammutid (mastodonts), but IS from an elephantid (elephants and mammoths).

Greg Erickson would not have made such a newbie mistake, so I think you must be trying to pull our collective leg. Nice try!

Greg may have been wrong, but so are you Harry if you believe I'm trying to "pull your leg"...
Here's his one word reply at the top of my original email to him.

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Mastodon!


Hi Greg,

I was watching a program regarding the T-Rex bite marks and quickly jotted down your name.
A quick Google search brought up your web site and email. Hope you don't mind..

I'm looking to get some advice on identifying a molar which I aquired at a small country antique shop. Below is a link to some pictures.

I would greatly appreciate any input you may have on its source.

Thanks in advance!

John Walach
Montgomery, IL.

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php?topic=197868.new;topicseen#new





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--

Gregory M. Erickson, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
Dept. of Biological Science
Florida State University
King Building
319 Stadium Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32306-4295

850-645-4991
[email protected]

 

[Harry Pristis]

Whoa! How embarrassing for Greg Erickson! It seems that FSU is not the place to get good vertebrate information.

Why don't you try Dr. Richard Hulbert who is the collections manager of the Florida State Museum at the University of Florida. He is sharp and he is helpful. [email protected]

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

I don't know one from the other, I just thought I would post a picture of a mammoth tooth for comparison.


B

 

[Harry Pristis]

Thank you for the image, 'mrs.oroblanco' . . . here is another:

​

 

[Worthy55]

These are mastodon teeth for you to compare to. 8) 8) 8)