North America, Pliocene to Pleistocene, Ice Age, ca. 100,000 to 20,000 years old. A nicely preserved molar from an adult mastodon (Mammut americanum). It has extended roots and four large ridges now fossilized to a mottled stone. High-crowned teeth like the mastodon's - named by French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1817, and meaning "nipple teeth" because of its shape - were suited to mashing leaves and twigs rather than grasses; mastodons lived in forested environments, unlike mammoths, who lived in open grasslands. This is an impressive piece, from an animal whose fossilized remains are so awe-inspiring that Thomas Jefferson kept some of them in the White House - mistakenly believing that they belonged to a long-dead carnivore. Size: 5.2" W x 4" H (13.2 cm x 10.2 cm)

Provenance: ex private Ventura County, California, USA collection, acquired prior to 2008

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#154007

Some stabilization and restoration; this is very well done and difficult to see, mainly around the second tooth. Losses to the roots as shown.