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Archaeology/fossil found

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Expert: - 6/4/2008


Question
Hello,  Years ago I found what appears to be a tooth on a beach in Florida.  Now, I do not think it is a sharks tooth because I have seen many of them and it looks nothing like it.I would like to send you a picture of it to see if you could tell me what it is.  Thanks,  Jim

Answer
Jim
I am not a paleontologist, but I'll have a look.
Shark teeth are common on the beaches of Florida, but mammal teeth often wash up too -these are left over from when the sea level was 150 meters lower, at the end of the last Ice Age.  I've heard of horse, deer, mammoth, and mastodon bones turning up there.
Email me a photo with at scale in it (an object of known size, like a ruler or a penny).  My email - John.Shea@sunysb.edu
Cheers,
John Shea

Archaeology

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John J. Shea

Expertise

Questions about Old World prehistoric archaeology (mainly Europe, Near East, and Africa during the Paleolithic period/Pleistocene Epoch). IMPORTANT: I do not give advice about colleges. I do not appraise the value of artifacts or fossils.

Experience

University professor of anthropology/archaeology since 1991. Dozens of publications in peer-review anthropology journals. Director of archaeological-paleontological expeditions and excavations in Israel, Jordan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Kenya. See my main profile under Allexperts` "Anthropology" section. Professional website: http://www.sunysb.edu/anthro/staff/jshea.shtml Personal website: http://www.sunysb.edu/anthro/Shea/Shea%20pers%20webpage.htm

Education/Credentials
>20 years as faculty at major research university

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