A Mammoth Find

Three million years old mammoth’s tooth has been found on an Essex beach.

17:24 20 October 2016

A mammoth tooth, which has been found by Wendy and John Booth on an Essex beach, has been hailed as a find of the century. Experts say that it is three million years old.

 

Wendy said: "We were out on the foreshore in Walton by the pill boxes, right out passed the tower. At first I just thought it was a lump of brown concrete. It was probably dredged up by a boat.

 

"I was ecstatic when I realised what it was. We have never found anything like this before. You could call it a find of the century.

 

"We are keeping it as a souvenir and are proudly displaying it in our cabinet at home."

 

The couple has been visiting the Naze with Walton friends Stephen and Rhoda Ryder in recent years.

 

Steven Walker, publicity officer at Naze visitor centre, said that although the Walton cliffs are famous for sharks’ teeth, the mammoth tooth was a “very rare find.”

 

The mammoth tooth will have come from the Red Crag formation which was laid out 3 million years ago.  

 

Mr Walker explained: "They have been turning up in Clacton. The theory is they were dredged up in the sand that was used to recharge the beaches in Holland-on-Sea.

 

"We know mammoth bones have been found in Walton which are nothing to do with the dredging.

 

"Thus, it's a genuine Red Crag fossil, dating back 3 million years."