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An international team of archaeologists have found several shark tooth fossils in Iron Age cultural strata dating from the 8th to 9th centuries BCE in the City of David, Jerusalem, Israel.
The 80.3 million year old fossil shark teeth from the Iron Age cultural layers of the City of David in Jerusalem, Israel, from the Rock Cut Pool dating from the 8th to the 9th century BCE: (a) lamniform shark, Odontaspididae; (b, ei) sharks, no taxonomic identification; (c) lamniform shark, Odontaspididae; (re) Squalicorax. Image credit: Tütken et al., doi: 10.3389 / fevo.2020.570032.
“These fossils are not in their original environment, so they have been moved,” said Dr Thomas Tuetken, a researcher at the Institute of Geosciences at the University of Mainz.
“They were probably precious to someone. We just don’t know why or why similar items were found in more than one location in Israel.
The fossil teeth are around 80.3 million years old (Late Cretaceous period) and belong to several species of sharks, including the extinct Upper Cretaceous group. Squalicorax.
“Squalicorax, which measured between 2 and 5 m (6.6-16.4 feet) long, only lived in the late Cretaceous, and therefore serves as a reference point for dating these fossils, ”the scientists said. .
Fossil teeth have been found in the same cultural strata of the Iron Age with a great diversity of archaeological fish native to the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile.
They clearly do not represent food scraps although their use remains elusive. They may have been intentionally brought into the city, as the nearest fossil shark teeth bearing Cretaceous outcrops are located in the Negev Desert, although similar aged layers also appear near the City of David. .
Oddly enough, the fossils were found along with hundreds of bubbles – items used to seal confidential letters and packages – implying a possible connection to the administrative or ruling class at one point.
“We initially assumed shark teeth were scraps of food thrown away almost 3,000 years ago, but when we submitted an article for publication, one of the reviewers pointed out that one of the teeth could only have come from a late Cretaceous shark that has been extinct for at least 66 million years, ”said Dr Tuetken.
“This took us back to the samples, where measuring the organic matter, elemental composition and crystallinity of the teeth confirmed that indeed all shark teeth were fossils.”
“Their isotopic composition of strontium indicates an age of about 80 million years.”
“This confirmed that the 29 shark teeth found in the City of David were Late Cretaceous fossils, contemporaneous with dinosaurs.”
“More than that, they were not simply eroded from the bedrock beneath the site, but were likely transported from afar, perhaps from the Negev, at least 80 km (50 miles), where similar fossils are found. . “
“Our working hypothesis is that the teeth were collected by collectors, but we have nothing to confirm this,” he said.
“There are no signs of wear that could show they were used as tools, and no drill holes to indicate that it was jewelry.”
“We know that there is still a market for shark teeth today, so there may have been an Iron Age trend for collecting such items. It was a period of wealth at the Court of Judea.
The results were published in the journal Frontiers in ecology and evolution.
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Thomas Tütken et al. Strontium and oxygen isotope analyzes reveal Upper Cretaceous shark teeth in Iron Age strata in the southern Levant. Front. School. Evol, published online December 17, 2020; doi: 10.3389 / fevo.2020.570032
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