Artist’s impression of a Squalicorax shark. Credit: Dimitri Bogdanov
Scientists have actually discovered an unusual cache of fossilized shark teeth in a location where there must be none — in a 2900-year-old website in the City of David in Jerusalem. This is at least 80 km from where these fossils would be anticipated to be discovered. There is no definitive evidence of why the cache was put together, however it might be that the 80 million-year-old teeth became part of a collection, dating from simply after the death of King Solomon. The very same group has actually now uncovered comparable inexplicable finds in other parts of ancient Judea.
Presenting the work at the Goldschmidt Conference, lead scientist, Dr. Thomas Tuetken (University of Mainz, Institute of Geosciences) stated:
“These fossils are not in their original setting, so they have been moved. They were probably valuable to someone; we just don’t know why, or why similar items have been found in more than one place in Israel.”
The teeth were discovered buried in product utilized to complete a basement prior to conversion to a big Iron-Age home. The home itself was located in the City of David, among the earliest parts of Jerusalem, discovered nowadays in the mainly Palestinian town of Silwan. They were discovered together with fish bones gotten rid of as food waste 2900 years back, and other infill product such as pottery. Intriguingly, they were discovered together with numerous bullae — products utilized to seal personal letters and bundles — suggesting a possible connection with the administrative or governing class at some time. Normally historical product is dated according to the scenarios where it is discovered, therefore in the beginning it was presumed that the teeth were modern with the remainder of the discover.
Fossilised Squalicorax tooth Nr. #07815 from the Jerusalem website. Credit: Omri Lernau
Dr. Tuetken stated:
“We had at first assumed that the shark teeth were remains of the food dumped nearly 3000 years ago, but when we submitted a paper for publication, one of the reviewers pointed out that the one of the teeth could only have come from a Late Cretaceous shark that had been extinct for at least 66 million years. That sent us back to the samples, where measuring organic matter, elemental composition, and the crystallinity of the teeth confirmed that indeed all shark teeth were fossils. Their strontium isotope composition indicates an age of about 80 million years. This confirmed that all 29 shark teeth found in the City of David were Late Cretaceous fossils — contemporary with dinosaurs. More than that, they were not simply weathered out of the bedrock beneath the site, but were probably transported from afar, possibly from the Negev, at least 80 km away, where similar fossils are found.”
Since the very first discovers, the group has actually discovered other shark teeth fossils in other places in Israel, at the Maresha and Miqne websites. These teeth are likewise most likely to have actually been uncovered and moved from their initial websites.
Dr. Tuetken stated:
“Our working hypothesis is that the teeth were brought together by collectors, but we don’t have anything to confirm that. There are no wear marks which might show that they were used as tools, and no drill holes to indicate that they may have been jewelry. We know that there is a market for shark’s teeth even today, so it may be that there was an Iron Age trend for collecting such items. This was a period of riches in the Judean Court. However, it’s too easy to put 2 and 2 together to make 5. We’ll probably never really be sure.”
The shark teeth which have actually been determined originated from numerous types, consisting of from the extinct Late Cretaceous group Squalicorax. Squalicorax, which grew to in between 2 and 5 metres long, lived just throughout the Late Cretaceous duration (which was the very same duration as the late dinosaurs), so functions as a referral point in dating these fossils.
Commenting, Dr. Brooke Crowley (University of Cincinnati) stated:
“This research by Dr. Tuetken and colleagues is an excellent example of why it is so important to approach a research question with as few assumptions as possible, and how sometimes we have to revisit our initial assumptions. It also highlights how beneficial it can be to apply multiple tools to answer a research question. In this case, the authors used both strontium and oxygen isotopes, as well as x-ray diffraction and trace element analysis to establish most likely age and origin of the fossil teeth. It was a monumental amount of work but these efforts have revealed a much more interesting story about the people who lived in this region in the past. I am very excited by this work and hope that one day, we might be able to unravel the mystery of why these fossil teeth are being recovered from cultural deposits.”
Reference: “Strontium and Oxygen Isotope Analyses Reveal Late Cretaceous Shark Teeth in Iron Age Strata in the Southern Levant” by Thomas Tütken, Michael Weber, Irit Zohar, Hassan Helmy, Nicolas Bourgon, Omri Lernau, Klaus Peter Jochum and Guy Sisma-Ventura, 17 December 2020, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.570032
