[SWNS] – An amateur fossil hunter is celebrating a once-in-a-lifetime discovery after finding a huge mammoth tooth on a beach.
Chris Bien was visiting Holland-on-Sea, Essex, as part of her birthday celebrations when she took a walk on the beach with her husband Mark. She stopped to sit on a rock by the water’s edge when she looked down and saw a wavy line pattern in the gravel.
“I saw it poking out and thought it must be a tooth to have a pattern like that,” said the 56-year-old mother-of-one.
“I started scraping away with my hands but it was so deep in the ground that hands weren’t good enough. Mark and I had bought a trowel with us and so we dug it out that way – it was fully fossilized. (Watch the moment in a video below…)
“I was in disbelief. While we were digging it out I was hoping it was a mammoth tooth but I kept saying to my husband: ‘it can’t be’.
“I had said earlier that day ‘I’m going to find a mammoth’s tooth’ and then we had a moment where we just burst out laughing as we stood on the beach holding it.
“It is so beautiful with its ridges. I’m overjoyed.”
The find is believed to be the root of the tooth and measures six-and-a-half to seven inches in depth and width, weighing over 4 pounds (2 kilos).
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After seeking advice online, Chris believes the tooth could have belonged to a steppe mammoth, one of the largest mammoth species. They were ancestors of the woolly mammoth and roamed the earth around 1.8 million years ago.
Chris added that she thinks the fossil is only half a tooth as there’s only two inches of the chewing plate and the rest is the root, indicating some of it is missing.
She is going to preserve the tooth and it is already soaking in distilled water where it will stay for a few weeks. After drying out, it will be preserved in a coating of preservation glue and ethanol.
Chris volunteers for her local museum in Worthing and has been a part of the Brighton and Hove Archaeological Society for 17 years.
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The North Essex beaches are known for being a trove of fossilized treasure. Other finds she has made are mammoth leg and toe bones, and an Ice Age horse tooth and ankle bone.
“I want people to know about the deep, rich history behind this find.”
Watch the moment captured on a video…
ENCOURAGE YOUR FRIENDS TO LOOK DOWN–By Sharing the Find on Social Media…