Sign Of Early Archaeology? Fossilized Shark Teeth Found Where They Shouldn't Be

Scientists have discovered a surprising stash of fossilized shark teeth far from where they were expected to be found. Is this evidence of early archaeology?

The shark teeth fossils were found in a 2,900-year-old site in the City of David in Jerusalem, the Goldschmidt Conference conference said in a statement. They were discovered among the materials used to fill a basement before converting it into a private Iron-Age house.

Among the collection, which dates back to just after the death of King Solomon, were pottery, broken clay seals, fish bones dumped as food waste and "bullae," which were used to seal letters and packages, the researchers wrote in their study published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

What's interesting is that the shark teeth were found at least 80 kilometers (49.7 miles) from where they were expected to be discovered, the Goldschmidt Conference said.

Food or Fossil?

"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," the study's lead researcher, Thomas Tuetken of the University of Mainz, Institute of Geosciences, said in the statement.

Further analysis confirmed the shark teeth were indeed fossils that were about 80 million years old, most likely from the Late Cretaceous.

According to the researchers, who presented their findings at the Goldschmidt Conference, the find was rather "puzzling" because the shark teeth were fossils, clearly demonstrating that they were not a result of shark consumption. As such, they had probably been transported from the original site where other similar fossils could be found, Tuetken said.

"Our working hypothesis is that the teeth were brought together by collectors, but we don't have anything to confirm that," Tuetken said. "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."

They might have also been used for cultural purposes like creating tools or jewelry. However, there are no marks or holes to indicate such uses for them. Because of this, their exact purpose remains unclear.

The researchers have found other shark teeth fossils in other sites in Israel since the initial discovery, the Goldschmidt Conference said. These, too, were likely moved from their sites of origin.

"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," Tuetken added.