Girl Finds Huge Megalodon Tooth On Maryland Beach On Christmas Day

A 9-year-old aspiring paleontologist found the find of a lifetime on Christmas morning: a massive 5-inch tooth from a prehistoric megalodon.

Molly Sampson, a fourth grader from Prince Frederick, Maryland, made the astonishing find on Calvert Beach.

Molly told CNN that she has spent years combing Maryland’s beaches for shark teeth, inspired by her father’s love of fossils.

“They’re just cool because they’re really old,” she said.

Molly’s mother Alicia Sampson added that her daughter has long harbored a love of exploring the outdoors. “She loves treasure hunting,” she explained.

Maryland’s Calvert Cliffs State Park is known as a hotspot for fossil finding, Alicia Sampson added.

For Christmas, Molly asked her parents for cold-water waders so that she could hunt for shark teeth and other fossils in the Chesapeake Bay. Equipped with her new gear, she set out at 9:30 a.m. to search for the remnants of ancient predators.

“I saw something big, and it looked like a shark tooth,” she said. “We were about knee deep in the water.”

She explained that she tried to grab the tooth with a sifting tool, but it was too big. She was “amazed” when she realized just how large the tooth was. “I was so excited and surprised.”

The Sampsons took their exciting find to the Calvert Marine Museum, where paleontology curator Stephen Godfrey confirmed their suspicions: It was indeed the tooth of a megalodon, the massive sharks that lived more than 23 million years ago.

Godfrey told CNN that there are usually only five or six megalodon teeth comparable in size to Molly’s find discovered along Calvert Cliffs each year.

“There are people that can spend a lifetime and not find a tooth the size Molly found,” he said.

“This is like a once-in-a-lifetime kind of find.”

Amateur fossil hunters typically find around 100 megalodon teeth on Calvert Cliffs per year, he added. But most of them are much smaller than Molly’s huge tooth. The largest megalodon teeth ever found have been just over 7 inches.

The size of the tooth indicates that this particular megalodon was between 45 and 50 feet long.

Godfrey explained that millions of years ago, the waters off Calvert Cliffs would have been home to whales and dolphins that would have served as bountiful prey for megalodons looking to eat. Because sharks replace their teeth over the course of their lives and because the teeth are made up of hardy enamel, they are “by far the most abundant vertebrate fossil.”

Megalodons hold a particular fascination for humans because they served as the “apex predator on Earth” for millions of years, he said.

Both Godfrey and Alicia Sampson said they hope Molly’s find helps inspire other children, especially girls, to pursue their scientific interests.

“This will inspire people of all ages, children included, to pursue their natural inclination in nature, art music, there’s so many possibilities that are available to us today,” said Godfrey.

Alicia Sampson said children around the globe have sent letters to Molly sharing their excitement at her discovery. She set up an Instagram page to share her daughters’ outdoor adventures.

“We really want to reach other kids and get them excited about like being outside,” she said.

Molly said she hopes to display the huge tooth in a shadowbox in her room – and one day hopes to become a paleontologist.

Giant 180 million-year-old ‘Sea Dragon’ fossil found in UK reservoir

The colossal 180 million-year-old fossilized remains of an ichthyosaur have been found in the UK, in what researchers have described as one of the most significant discoveries in the region.

Discovered in a reservoir in the county of Rutland, in the English East Midlands, the specimen is the largest and most complete ichthyosaur fossil ever found in the UK, measuring nearly 33 feet in length and with a skull weighing one ton.

It is also thought to be the first of its particular species – Temnodontosaurus trigonodon – to be found in Britain.

Marine reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs, ichthyosaurs resembled dolphins in body shape. They became extinct around 90 million years ago, after first appearing 250 million years ago.

The ichthyosaur was first uncovered in February 2021 in the Rutland Water Nature Reserve by Joe Davis, a conservation team leader from Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, which operates the nature reserve in partnership with owner Anglian Water.

Davis was undertaking routine re-landscaping work, which involved draining the water in the lagoon, when he spotted parts of vertebrae sticking out of the mud, the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust said in a press release.

Then followed a large-scale excavation in August and September by a team of paleontologists, led by Dean Lomax, an ichthyosaur expert and current visiting scientist at the University of Manchester.

“The size and the completeness together is what makes it truly exceptional,” Lomax told CNN, adding that previous finds of ichthyosaurs in the UK had been “nowhere near as complete and as large as this.”

Lomax said it was the most complete large specimen – which he classified as being 10 or more meters in length – found globally. He said it was “a really fantastic discovery” as well as, for him, “a real career highlight.”

“This was a top of the food chain, apex predator,” he told CNN of the discovery. “So this would have been dining on other ichthyosaurs, it would have been eating large fish, it would have eaten, if could catch them, squids as well.”

However, Lomax said the discovery was the “tip of the iceberg,” with much left to uncover of the specimen after chunks of rock have been cleared away, with the possibility that the ichthyosaur’s last meal may have been preserved or even that the reptile could have been pregnant.

“It was just mind blowing,” Regan Harris, a spokeswoman for Anglian Water, told CNN. “I mean, you kind of couldn’t really believe your eyes when you were looking at it in front of you. But yeah, incredible.”

Harris, who was onsite for the excavation, said smaller ichthyosaurs had previously been found on the Rutland Water site, but the “sheer scale” and “well preserved” nature of this particular discovery made it unique.

Paul Barrett, Merit Researcher in the Earth Sciences Vertebrates and Anthropology Palaeobiology department at the Natural History Museum in London, said the Rutland ichthyosaur was “probably one of the largest fossil reptiles ever found, including dinosaurs.” Barrett was not involved in the find.

“It’s genuinely a really impressive, spectacular object,” Barrett told CNN. “Certainly one of the most impressive marine fossil discoveries from the UK that I can remember at least in the last 20 to 30 years or so.”

Barrett, whose work has covered dinosaurs and other extinct reptiles including ichthyosaurs, said the find confirmed the “cosmopolitanism” of the species, which had previously mainly been known in Germany.

The specimen is currently being treated by a specialist paleontological conservator, a process that will take 12-18 months. Following this, Harris said, the aim will be to put it on public display.

“We’re very proud of it, and I know the local community are as well,” she told CNN. “We very much want to bring it back home to Rutland and have it on display for people to enjoy.”

For Lomax, the lead researcher, one hope is to explore the Rutland Water site further, as six or seven vertebrae from other ichthyosaurs were also uncovered during the excavation.

He said the fact that “serendipitous things have happened to actually make this find” had not been lost on him.

“Honestly, it’s incredibly unusual,” Lomax told CNN. “Avid fossil hunters or paleontologists, they can search their entire careers and never find anything quite like this, even when you know where you’re looking.”

12 Most Incredible Archaeological Discoveries That Really Exist

Most archaeological discoveries are interesting in some way or another, but there are those that stand out from the crowd. We're talking about strange finds that aren't quite where they should be or artefacts that seem somehow out of place. In some cases, discoveries like these even make us question everything we think we know about archaeology! Let's check some out, and you'll see exactly what we mean.

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THE ART OF WAR - Full Audiobook by Sun Tzu (Sunzi) - Business & Strategy

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Mummy of Egyptian pharaoh digitally ‘unwrapped’ after 3,000 years

Scientists have used non-invasive imaging to see inside the burial wrappings of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep I.

For the first time in 3000 years, the digital ‘unwrapping’ revealed new details about the ruler who is thought to have died young at around the age of 35.

Scientists aimed to understand the events surrounding Amenhotep’s death, mummification, and later reburial. They found that he died in his mid-30s and was around 5 feet 5 inches tall. Details of their work have been published in Frontiers in Medicine.

Amenhotep I reigned from 1525 BCE to 1504 BCE, during ancient Egypt’s 18th Dynasty. About 400 years after his death, his mummy was opened in order to repair the damage done by grave robbers and subsequently reburied. The mummy has recently been kept at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Museum officials had decided against opening the mummy because of its perfect wrapping, decorated with flower garlands and with its face and neck covered by an exquisite lifelike facemask inset with colourful stones.

Sahar Saleem, a radiologist at Cairo University and the study’s lead author, told Gizmodo that one of the most exciting elements of the research was ‘the opportunity to reveal the face of Amenhotep I and to see that his facial features resembled those of his father, Ahmose I’.

‘The discoveries were possible thanks to the advancement of technology that enabled digital unwrapping of the mummy non-invasively, preserving it,’ said Saleem.

CT scans were used to look at Amenhotep’s remains including regions of the body that are otherwise inaccessible. The scans take thousands of images of slices of the body, which can be assembled into high-quality 3D views, making it the perfect technology for examining fragile mummies, ensconced in many layers of wrappings.

The scans revealed 30 different amulets and a girdle made of gold beads adorning the mummy.

The scientists couldn’t find any indication that Amenhotep I died of a flesh wound or noticeable disease. The body had been mutilated, but the researchers suspect that was done post-mortem by grave robbers. The areas that had been hacked at were the neck and limbs—typical places for jewellery, the researchers noted in the study.

The researchers found that the pharaoh still has some locks of hair, which were curly. The mummy also had all its teeth with the top row protruding slightly. The pharaoh was circumcised, and his penis was independently wrapped.

‘Special wrappings were applied to the head, hands, and genitals to help the deceased’s journey to the afterlife,’ Saleem explained.

Amenhotep I ruled in the New Kingdom era which was the height of the ancient Egyptian civilization, according to the researchers. The civilization at that time was very rich and advanced in all aspects, including mummification. Royal mummies of the New Kingdom were the most well-preserved ancient bodies ever found.

There’s no evidence that the embalmers attempted to remove the pharaoh’s brain, which was still inside the skull, nor his heart. Typically, embalmers removed the internal organs to avoid body putrefaction.

All organs were removed except the heart, as ancient Egyptians believed that the heart was the house of the soul.

Saleem added that some of the adornments on the mummy were likely added by later embalmers to address the hack marks made by grave robbers. This indicated that even several centuries after a pharaoh’s death, the ancient Egyptians still made sure their dead were cared for.

Just this April, CT scans illuminated a 3,200-year-old mud-covered mummy and revealed the first known pregnant mummy, which previously was misidentified as male.

Two freedivers led archeologists to a treasure trove of 53 perfectly preserved ancient Roman coins

Two amateur divers swimming along the Spanish coast have discovered a huge hoard of 1,500-year-old gold coins, one of the largest on record dating to the Roman Empire.

The divers, brothers-in-law Luis Lens Pardo and César Gimeno Alcalá, discovered the gold stash while vacationing with their families in Xàbia, a coastal Mediterranean town and tourist hotspot. The duo rented snorkeling equipment so they could go freediving with the goal of picking up trash to beautify the area, but they found something far richer when Lens Pardo noticed the glimmer of a coin at the bottom of Portitxol Bay on Aug. 23, El País reported.

When he went to investigate, he found that the coin "was in a small hole, like a bottleneck," Lens Pardo told El País in Spanish. After cleaning the coin, Lens Pardo saw that it had "an ancient image, like a Greek or Roman face." Intrigued, Lens Pardo and Gimeno Alcalá returned, freediving to the hole with a Swiss Army knife and using its corkscrew to unearth a total of eight coins.

Stunned by the find, Lens Pardo and Gimeno Alcalá reported it the next day to the authorities. "We took the eight coins we had found and put them in a glass jar with some sea water," Lens Pardo said. Soon, a team of archaeologists from the University of Alicante, the Soler Blasco Archaeological and Ethnological Museum and the Spanish Civil Guard Special Underwater Brigade, in collaboration with the Town Council of Xàbia, came together to excavate and examine the treasure.

With the help of the archaeologists, they found that the hole held a hefty pile of at least 53 gold coins dating between A.D. 364 and 408, when the Western Roman Empire was in decline. Each coin weighs about 0.1 ounces (4.5 grams).

The coins were so well preserved, archaeologists could easily read their inscriptions and identify the Roman emperors depicted on them, including: Valentinian I (three coins), Valentinian II (seven coins), Theodosius I (15 coins), Arcadius (17 coins), Honorius (10 coins) and an unidentified coin, according a University of Alicante statement. The hoard also included three nails, likely made of copper, and the deteriorated lead remains of what may have been a sea chest that held the riches.

The hoard is one of the largest known collections of Roman gold coins in Europe, Jaime Molina Vidal, a professor of ancient history at the University of Alicante (UA), researcher at the University Institute of Archaeology and Historical Heritage at UA and team leader who helped recover the buried treasure, said in the statement. The coins are also a treasure trove of information, and may shed light on the final phase of the Western Roman Empire before it fell, Molina Vidal said. (In A.D. 395, the Roman Empire split in two pieces: the Western Roman Empire, with Rome as its capital, and the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire, with Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) as its capital, Live Science previously reported.)

Perhaps these coins were purposefully hidden during the violent power struggles that ensued during the Western Roman Empire's final stretch. During that time, the barbarians — non-Roman tribes such as the Germanic Suevi and Vandals and the Iranian Alans — came to Hispania, the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula, and took power from the Romans in about 409, according to the statement.

"Sets of gold coins are not common," Molina Vidal told El País, adding that Portitxol Bay is where ships leaving from Rome's Iberian provinces stopped before sailing to the Balearic Islands, which includes modern-day Mallorca and Ibiza, and then heading to Rome. Given that archaeologists haven't found evidence of a nearby sunken ship, it's possible that someone purposefully buried the treasure there, possibly to hide it from the barbarians, likely the Alans, he said.

"The find speaks to us of a context of fear, of a world that is ending — that of the Roman Empire," Molina Vidal said.

So far, a study of the coins suggests that the gold hoard belonged to a wealthy landowner, because in the fourth and fifth centuries "the cities were in decline and power had shifted to the large Roman villas, to the countryside," Molina Vidal told El País.

"Trade has been stamped out and the sources of wealth become agriculture and livestock," he said. As the barbarians advanced, perhaps one of the landowners gathered up the gold coins — which did not circulate as regular money, but were collected by families to serve as signs of wealth — and had them buried in a chest in the bay. "And then he must have died because he did not return to retrieve them," Molina Vidal said.

The Euphrates River Finally Dried Up But Now Something Has Emerged

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When We First Talked

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The Life of Alexander the Great | Full Historical Documentary Part 1

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One of the most iconic personalities in history, Alexander the Great was also one of its greatest commanders, who expanded his father's realm from Macedonia to Egypt and India. This miniseries explores the legacy of one of history's most renowned leaders.

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Experts Made A Miraculous Discovery At Mount Zion That Proves A Biblical Story Really Took Place

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The Crusades - Pilgrimage or Holy War?

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Japanese archaeologists discover 8ft iron sword in 4th century burial mound

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Joe Rogan Reacts to Secrets of ancient Egypt's Great Sphinx

Egypt’s Sahara is historians' favourite place to be. The place is filled with sand, tombs, and mysteries. The limestone statue with eyes peering out of what looks like an almost human face has buried hundreds of mysteries.

Joe Rogan was enthralled when he got to know these secrets. So, what secrets are we talking about? Let’s get to know more about it.

Today we will discover the secrets of ancient Egypt’s Great Sphinx and how Joe Rogan reacted to them.

Archeologists Scanned Underneath A Norwegian Farm They Saw A Hulking Shape Beneath

It's september 2019, and a team of archaeologists is using ground-penetrating radar technology to scan beneath the surface of a field in rural norway. An anomaly then catches their attention. Hidden beneath the subsoil is a massive circular formation that is 60 feet in diameter. Ancient and mysterious, it resembles a giant primordial lie. When archaeologists scanned underneath a Norwegian farm they saw hulking shapes beneath the soil. The structure was stumbled upon by a team from the Norwegian Institute for cultural heritage research NICU, headquartered in Oslo, Nico is an independent research center, which works all over the world in areas such as cultural heritage, climate change, conservation, Archeology, and Ethnology. Their team includes professionals from diverse academic fields. According to Nick, who's head of digital archaeology, Dr. Not posh, the anomaly is of great historical significance to Norway.

Archaeologists Have Unearthed An Incredible Artifact At The Site Where Jesus Fed The 5000

After that, a group of archaeologists is hard at work in Israel's Jordan park. As they continue their meticulous investigation of the golan heights region, the air is filled with the sounds of tools sparking against stone. Because they have been excavating this particular site known as tel for decades, the researchers are also a relatively common sight for any locals who happen to be passing by. However, on this particular day, the group on earth made a truly remarkable discovery. In addition, they will discover that the approximately 3000-year-old artifact may have served as the setting for one of Jesus Christ's most well-known miracles. An incredible artifact has been discovered by archaeologists at the location where jesus fed the 5,000 people. This amazing object was discovered by archaeologists on the Jordan river banks, north of the sea of galilee. In addition, three of Jesus' disciples are said to have come from a fishing village called Bethsaida, which is mentioned in the new testament book of john and is said to have been right on this very seashore.

Experts believe, moreover, that they have identified the site of this ancient settlement in the at tel area. In fact, the 20 strong international team of archaeologists, led by the university of Nebraska is professor rami iraf, have claimed that the sites history long precedes the appearance of jesus some 2000 years ago, a raft believes, for example, that the location existed at the time of the old testaments king David, so around 3000 years ago or so. And in the ravs view, lets say to may be the same place as the city of Zurich thats mentioned in the old testament. He explained the situation in a july 2019 interview with the jerusalem post, saying bethsaida was the name of the city during the second temple period, but during the first temple period, it was the city of Zurich, and to lend further weight to his words, he pointed out that the old testaments book of joshua mentions that very settlement.

Was There A Historical Jesus & Odysseus?

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Experts Digging At An Ancient Biblical City Found Evidence Of A Super Advanced Secret Technology

A group of archaeologists sweats in the desert heart near the biblical city of Tel Beersheba. They hope to preserve the secrets of this ancient settlement in modern-day Israel for many future generations as they dig. But what they found were truly amazing remnants of a top-secret technology that may have been one of the first of its kind. Experts discovered evidence of extremely advanced secret technology while excavating an ancient biblical city. The group of experts from a variety of Israeli institutions has been digging beneath navel noi, a 1950s settlement south of the modern city of Beersheba, for years. However, despite the neighborhood's relative modernity, its foundations are significantly older. The archaeologists have also discovered some startling things among these. The team discovered evidence of a technology that was once among the world's most advanced in a workshop that dates back 6500 years.