BRACE OF MASTODON MOLARS

BRACE OF MASTODON MOLARS

Mammut americanum

Pleistocene

South West Florida, USA

This complete set of the two cheek molars shows very little wear with the larger molar measuring 6 ½ inches in length. Both are from the same individual and come mounted together with brass cradle and wooden base.

American Mastodons ranged from Alaska to Central Mexico over one million years ago and became extinct during the Last Ice Age approximately 10,000 years ago. They are classified in the order Proboscidea together with other large heavy mammals with distinctive tusks and long flexible trunks; however, while the Mammoths that lived on Earth during the same period are closely related to the modern Asian elephant, the Mastodon has no surviving relatives. The present specimens represents the most distinctive feature differentiating the mastodon from the mammoth: its cheek teeth which, unlike those of modern elephants and extinct mammoths, terminated in distinctive cone-like cusps.

PROVENANCE

Collection of legendary 'fossil hunter' and Megalodon expert Vito Bertucci.

Phillips, New York, December 2, 1995 (lot 328)

Private New York collection from 1995 till the present.