Fossilized 10,000-Year-Old Mastodon Tooth Discovered in California

A 10,000-year-old tooth from an ancient Pacific mastodon, a large mammal that once roamed North America, was recently discovered by a scientist in California, according to The Guardian.

Brigid Lynch, a geomorphologist, was working at a preserve in San Mateo County when she came across what she initially thought was a peculiar rock, the report said.

The find was later identified as a molar from a Pacific mastodon, a species that inhabited parts of North America thousands of years ago. According to the report, the tooth was found in what was described as "immaculate condition."

Mastodons were large, tusked mammals related to modern elephants that lived across parts of North America until their extinction thousands of years ago. Fossil remains of the animals, including teeth and bones, have occasionally been unearthed in various parts of the United States, offering researchers insight into the region's prehistoric wildlife.

Further details about the specific location within the preserve, the circumstances of the discovery, and plans for further study of the fossil were not immediately available.