A woman from California found an ancient foot-long tooth on the Rio Del Mar State Beach. The tooth was sticking out of the sand and caught the attention of Jennifer Schuh who then took some pictures and posted them on Facebook to know what the unusual thing was.
An Important Find
Schuh got a response from Wayne Thompson, a paleontology collections adviser, who said that it was actually a molar from an adult elephant who went extinct about 10,000 years ago. Thompson said that it was “an extremely important find’ and went on to call Schuh to ask about the whereabouts of the tooth.
Lost And Found Again
When Schuh and Wayne Thompson went to see the ancient tooth, they were surprised as the tooth wasn’t there. Thompson then took to social media and requested people to help in finding the artifact. Days after, a jogger named Jim Smith called a nearby museum and said he had found the ancient tooth. Jim donated the tooth to the same museum afterwards.
