Overview
- A geomorphologist working on a habitat-restoration survey for the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District found the fossil while examining creek-bed rocks in a San Mateo County preserve.
- Paleontologists confirmed the specimen is an adult Pacific mastodon molar with both crown and root preserved, and Midpen donated the tooth to Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability for study.
- Researchers plan radiocarbon dating and high-resolution 3D scanning of the tooth; preliminary reports estimate an age near 10,000 years but laboratory results are pending.
- Midpen is withholding the exact find site in the Santa Cruz Mountains to protect the location, and Stanford will produce 3D-printed replicas for public outreach instead of displaying the original in the field.
- The tooth’s exceptional preservation could help experts reconstruct regional Pleistocene diet and climate, and the discovery highlights how conservation fieldwork can uncover new paleontological evidence.