Metal detecting turns up fossils, including tiger shark tooth, canine molar hat trick, stingray barb, metal, marble, etc.

PetesPockets55

Bronze Member
Apr 18, 2013
1,696
3,040
Indian River Co., Fl
Detector(s) used
AT MAX & Carrot, Nokta Pulse Dice (:
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I got to the riverbank about an hour or so before high tide and was kicking myself for only bringing my smaller root shovel with me. (I forgot to put my regular one back in the car from my travels out of town!) Sigh!

I decided to check around the roots of a tree near the water that has produced 1800's copper/brass parts. The tree is dead so there are only larger roots to contend with. It was a challenge in the sandy soil with my narrow, 3" wide shovel. Half an hour in and still no finds doing one scoop at a time. I decided to switch it up and dig 2-3 gallons of sand at a time, rapid fire, and then check with the Nokta Legend.
This was my reward as I was digging the sand out by hand from under the root, before I got the coil to the soil.
DireWolfJaw-TripleMolar-Front-3.JPG

I'm not 100% sure what type of carnivore this is from (wolf or fox maybe?), but it seems to be a young one since the teeth are all sharp.
The largest tooth is in the rear of the jawbone.
These next two items were found before the triple tooth jawbone,

A Native American pottery shard with a hole in it (net weight or clothing) and a decent sized tiger shark tooth.
FossilezedTigerSharkTooth-1Point5Inches-Front.JPG ShardwithHole-NetWeight-Inside.JPG ShardwithHole-NetWeight-Outside.JPG

These next items are long and thin. I'm guessing some sort of fish spine or dorsal fin.
DorsalSpineOrClaw-2.JPG DorsalSpineOrClaw-1.JPG DorsalSpineOrClaw-Piece-3.JPG
And finally, the stingray tail tip with all it's barbs. (And yes, I found this one with my finger!)
StingrayTailTip-4.JPG StingrayTailTip-2.JPG

Now for the "European" items. (ca. 1700's -1800's, maybe into the 1900's)

A marble with layers on it from deteriorating and a single small pistol shot.

Marble-2.JPG PistolShot-Small-1.JPG

A large heavy metal "glob" weighing 3.2 lbs. Non-magnetic and some of the metal seems to have a brownish tint to it.
I assume it's mostly lead because it's heavy, but the color is throwing me off.
Large(Brown)MetalGlob-1.JPGLarge(Brown)MetalGlob-12-CloseUp.JPG

Odd shaped flat copper piece.
Copper(J)Piece-1.JPGCopper(J)Piece-2.JPG

Copper rivet and misc. assortment
Group-Misc-2.JPG

Enjoy & I hope you are all having a good summer.
 

Upvote 22
I got to the riverbank about an hour or so before high tide and was kicking myself for only bringing my smaller root shovel with me. (I forgot to put my regular one back in the car from my travels out of town!) Sigh!

I decided to check around the roots of a tree near the water that has produced 1800's copper/brass parts. The tree is dead so there are only larger roots to contend with. It was a challenge in the sandy soil with my narrow, 3" wide shovel. Half an hour in and still no finds doing one scoop at a time. I decided to switch it up and dig 2-3 gallons of sand at a time, rapid fire, and then check with the Nokta Legend.
This was my reward as I was digging the sand out by hand from under the root, before I got the coil to the soil.
View attachment 2164618
I'm not 100% sure what type of carnivore this is from (wolf or fox maybe?), but it seems to be a young one since the teeth are all sharp.
The largest tooth is in the rear of the jawbone.
These next two items were found before the triple tooth jawbone,

A Native American pottery shard with a hole in it (net weight or clothing) and a decent sized tiger shark tooth.
View attachment 2164621 View attachment 2164622 View attachment 2164623

These next items are long and thin. I'm guessing some sort of fish spine or dorsal fin.
View attachment 2164624 View attachment 2164635 View attachment 2164636
And finally, the stingray tail tip with all it's barbs. (And yes, I found this one with my finger!)
View attachment 2164638 View attachment 2164639

Now for the "European" items. (ca. 1700's -1800's, maybe into the 1900's)

A marble with layers on it from deteriorating and a single small pistol shot.

View attachment 2164646 View attachment 2164644

A large heavy metal "glob" weighing 3.2 lbs. Non-magnetic and some of the metal seems to have a brownish tint to it.
I assume it's mostly lead because it's heavy, but the color is throwing me off.
View attachment 2164690View attachment 2164691

Odd shaped flat copper piece.
View attachment 2164692View attachment 2164693

Copper rivet and misc. assortment
View attachment 2164694

Enjoy & I hope you are all having a good summer.
Nice!!! Like the Shark tooth!! Congrats!!!
 

I got to the riverbank about an hour or so before high tide and was kicking myself for only bringing my smaller root shovel with me. (I forgot to put my regular one back in the car from my travels out of town!) Sigh!

I decided to check around the roots of a tree near the water that has produced 1800's copper/brass parts. The tree is dead so there are only larger roots to contend with. It was a challenge in the sandy soil with my narrow, 3" wide shovel. Half an hour in and still no finds doing one scoop at a time. I decided to switch it up and dig 2-3 gallons of sand at a time, rapid fire, and then check with the Nokta Legend.
This was my reward as I was digging the sand out by hand from under the root, before I got the coil to the soil.
View attachment 2164618
I'm not 100% sure what type of carnivore this is from (wolf or fox maybe?), but it seems to be a young one since the teeth are all sharp.
The largest tooth is in the rear of the jawbone.
These next two items were found before the triple tooth jawbone,

A Native American pottery shard with a hole in it (net weight or clothing) and a decent sized tiger shark tooth.
View attachment 2164621 View attachment 2164622 View attachment 2164623

These next items are long and thin. I'm guessing some sort of fish spine or dorsal fin.
View attachment 2164624 View attachment 2164635 View attachment 2164636
And finally, the stingray tail tip with all it's barbs. (And yes, I found this one with my finger!)
View attachment 2164638 View attachment 2164639

Now for the "European" items. (ca. 1700's -1800's, maybe into the 1900's)

A marble with layers on it from deteriorating and a single small pistol shot.

View attachment 2164646 View attachment 2164644

A large heavy metal "glob" weighing 3.2 lbs. Non-magnetic and some of the metal seems to have a brownish tint to it.
I assume it's mostly lead because it's heavy, but the color is throwing me off.
View attachment 2164690View attachment 2164691

Odd shaped flat copper piece.
View attachment 2164692View attachment 2164693

Copper rivet and misc. assortment
View attachment 2164694

Enjoy & I hope you are all having a good summer.
great saves for sure
 

Those are some very cool finds right there Pete! Anything non-metallic that pops up is definitely a bonus. :thumbsup:
The shark tooth and the pottery shard are nice finds.
- Dave
 

Anyone else have ANY IDEA what the teeth are from ?
 

Anyone else have ANY IDEA what the teeth are from ?
I was hoping someone might.
The Dire wolf teeth in the link seem to have one tooth much larger than the others but it is from an older individual judging by how the teeth are worn down.
(Maybe I'll check with my B-I-L who is a veterinarian.)
Definitely from a carnivore based on the sharpness of the teeth.
Should I share in the fossil forum and NA forum as well?
 

That I am not sure of but maybe a moderator might help. Thank you for your trying :)
 

The only bone I've ever found MDing just happened to be in the same hole as some other stuff.
It was either a humerus or a femur--with a small hole drilled through one end--probably used as a "charm"(?) What animal it was from IDK.
 

I got to the riverbank about an hour or so before high tide and was kicking myself for only bringing my smaller root shovel with me. (I forgot to put my regular one back in the car from my travels out of town!) Sigh!

I decided to check around the roots of a tree near the water that has produced 1800's copper/brass parts. The tree is dead so there are only larger roots to contend with. It was a challenge in the sandy soil with my narrow, 3" wide shovel. Half an hour in and still no finds doing one scoop at a time. I decided to switch it up and dig 2-3 gallons of sand at a time, rapid fire, and then check with the Nokta Legend.
This was my reward as I was digging the sand out by hand from under the root, before I got the coil to the soil.
View attachment 2164618
I'm not 100% sure what type of carnivore this is from (wolf or fox maybe?), but it seems to be a young one since the teeth are all sharp.
The largest tooth is in the rear of the jawbone.
These next two items were found before the triple tooth jawbone,

A Native American pottery shard with a hole in it (net weight or clothing) and a decent sized tiger shark tooth.
View attachment 2164621 View attachment 2164622 View attachment 2164623

These next items are long and thin. I'm guessing some sort of fish spine or dorsal fin.
View attachment 2164624 View attachment 2164635 View attachment 2164636
And finally, the stingray tail tip with all it's barbs. (And yes, I found this one with my finger!)
View attachment 2164638 View attachment 2164639

Now for the "European" items. (ca. 1700's -1800's, maybe into the 1900's)

A marble with layers on it from deteriorating and a single small pistol shot.

View attachment 2164646 View attachment 2164644

A large heavy metal "glob" weighing 3.2 lbs. Non-magnetic and some of the metal seems to have a brownish tint to it.
I assume it's mostly lead because it's heavy, but the color is throwing me off.
View attachment 2164690View attachment 2164691

Odd shaped flat copper piece.
View attachment 2164692View attachment 2164693

Copper rivet and misc. assortment
View attachment 2164694

Enjoy & I hope you are all having a good summer.
Nice finds. I'm pretty sure that is a water stained partial jawbone of a deer. I don't think it is fossilized.
 

Nice finds. I'm pretty sure that is a water stained partial jawbone of a deer. I don't think it is fossilized.
Thanks for that. I think you are right about it being from a deer.
I looked up deer molars and it looks similar.

There is definitely some staining from the tannins in the river but I'm pretty sure they are fossilized as well.

The teeth just looked too sharp to me to belong to something that chewed grass. They are so sharp I assumed they were from a carnivore.

Here are some more images of the teeth, in better light. DeerJaw-TripleMolar-WScale-1.JPGDeerJaw-TripleMolar-WScale-5-Profile.JPGDeerJaw-TripleMolar-WScale-13-FossilizedChecking.JPGDeerJaw-TripleMolar-WScale-12-WFossilizedTigerSharkTooth-Best.JPG

And some more of the stingray's tail. Three of these lashed together would have made a great gig for fishingStingrayTailTip-8-VNice.JPGStingrayTailTip-10VNice-.JPG.
 

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