A striking polished slice of a genuine Columbian mammoth tooth, displaying the distinctive repeating enamel plates that allowed these enormous Ice Age herbivores to grind tough grasses and vegetation.

The polished face reveals a series of beautifully preserved, tightly folded enamel bands running across the specimen. Pale cream dentin contrasts with blue-gray to nearly black mineralization, creating a dramatic natural pattern across the tooth. The outer edges have been left largely natural, preserving the rugged texture of the fossil while the cut face provides a clear view into its internal structure.

This specimen has another unusual feature: it phosphoresces after exposure to UV light. Under ultraviolet illumination, portions of the fossil fluoresce, and after the light is removed the mineralized enamel bands produce a vivid green afterglow. See the listing video for the phosphorescent response.

Columbian mammoths (Mammuthus columbi) were among the largest mammoths to inhabit North America during the Pleistocene. Their enormous molars were composed of repeated plates of enamel, dentin, and cementum. As the tooth wore during the animal's lifetime, these materials eroded at different rates, maintaining the ridged grinding surface needed to process abrasive vegetation.

Rather than presenting an entire molar, this slice provides a cross-sectional view through those individual plates, making the internal construction of a mammoth tooth especially easy to see.

Details

• Genuine Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) tooth fossil

• Polished tooth slice

• Approximately 3.8" × 2.6"

• Weight: approximately 154 g

• Prominent preserved enamel plates/lamellae

• Cream, blue-gray and dark mineralization

• Fluorescent under UV light

• Green phosphorescent afterglow

• Polished display face with natural fossil edges

• Acrylic display stand [only include this if you're actually selling it with the stand]

• One-of-a-kind specimen

You will receive the exact fossil pictured.