Specifications
Beschreibung
Fossil Mastodon Tooth, Quaternary period.
Locality: U.S.A.
Era: Cenozoic
Geological Age: Pleistocene, approximately 2.58–0.0117
The American mastodon, Mammut americanum, lived in North America from the Pliocene, about 3.7 million years ago, until the end of the Pleistocene. Its fossils have been found from Alaska to Florida and as far south as central Mexico. It stood about 3 m tall at the shoulder, and both males and females had tusks.
The French naturalist Georges Cuvier coined the name mastodon in 1817, from the Greek mastos (breast) and odous (tooth), after the nipple-shaped cusps on its molars. Those cone-shaped cusps were suited to crushing twigs, leaves and shrubs, and studies of mastodons in New York State show they favoured plants like spruce and pine.
Mastodons look like elephants but are not closely related: according to the American Museum of Natural History, their lineage branched off about 25 million years ago. Mastodons and many other large mammals died out about 10,000 years ago, most probably through a combination of climate change and human hunting.
This one of a kind mastodon tooth fossil specimen is a partial molar section with several rounded conical cusps still preserved in a row. The tooth is dark black to charcoal in color with a worn, naturally textured surface and a heavy, solid look. The broken sides and exposed underside show its internal structure and fossilization, while the raised chewing ridges give it a bold, sculptural shape.
What makes this piece stand out is the classic mastodon-style chewing surface. Unlike mammoth teeth, which have tightly packed grinding plates, mastodon molars are built with distinct cone-like cusps for crushing and shredding tougher plant material such as twigs, leaves, and coarse browse. This specimen keeps that recognizable form, and even as a partial tooth it has strong visual impact because the cusps remain high and clearly defined.
Collectors are often drawn to mastodon teeth because they carry a direct connection to Ice Age life and extinct megafauna. This piece has that appeal in a very raw way. It feels ancient, substantial, and unmistakably fossil, with the kind of rugged preservation that makes it especially interesting as a display specimen.
Quantity: 1pc
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