Description
This megalodon tooth is really well-preserved, which is not a common quality of Summerville meg teeth because of their rough multi-million year journey to the present day. First, they had to survive a few chomp sessions without getting destoyed while crushing through whale bones. This tooth must have gotten lucky and eased into some soft blubber before falling out of the giant shark's mouth onto the ocean floor where crustaceans and bacteria take their toll until the tooth gets covered. Then its Father Time's turn to beat on the tooth for millions of years. The waves move the sand on the bottom back and forth like a unceasing rock tumbler which usually grinds teeth to nothing. Over time, the sea levels fall and the tooth is on dry land where it dries out. Then the oceanic cycle changes, the sea levels rise, and the tooth gets wet again, soaking up all that water all over again. Usually things swell up when they soak up water, especially porous things like bones and teeth. Eventually that causes cracks which become fractures. Then the ocean recedes again, and the tooth is on dry land but this time a river cuts through the exact spot where the tooth fell millions of years ago and the tooth is eroded out. Maybe it falls to the bottom where it is sandblasted by the never-ending current and destroyed. Maybe it ends up on the river bank where it is exposed to the air, freezing and thawing as the seasons pass, giving more opportunity for the tooth to break into pieces. Then the ocean levels rise AGAIN and the tooth is at the bottom of the ocean where the waves beat on it some more. These events occur countless times over millions of years until the modern day when this fossil hunter happens to be in the right place at the right time and discovers the tooth which has somehow beat the odds and remained in amazing condition, worthy of sharing. What a journey!