‘It was absolutely surreal:’ Florida man finds ancient fossil at beach

Florida’s Fourth Estate

Alex Lundberg said he has been hunting for fossils for 20 years, but nothing prepared him for what he recently pulled out of the water.

About 10 minutes into a fossil hunting trip to Venice Beach, Lundberg said he spotted something that looked like a piece of wood stuck in the sand.

He told Florida’s Fourth Estate hosts Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden that he dove down about 25 feet and started dusting it off.

“I kind of recognize it as it’s probably mammoth ivory or mastodon tusk,” he said.

After about 20 minutes the marine biologist was able to unearth it and realized it was indeed a 4-foot-long, 70-pound mastodon tusk.

The animals, which scientists say date back about 23 million years, went extinct about 10,000 years ago. Lundberg said finding something this old in one piece is unusual.

“It was absolutely surreal. I have been fossil hunting for 20 years and I never thought I would find something like this. We find broken pieces of tusk all the time down there, just small pieces, but usually, they don’t stay intact like this they fall apart or storms break them up. I mean the fact that this one stayed in one piece is so surreal and so exciting,” he said.

After cleaning and drying out his discovery, Lundberg said he has been keeping it at his house.

“It’s actually sitting in a Christmas ornament box next to my bed,” he said.

Lundberg hopes he will get to keep it and pass it down to his grandkids, but first, he has to report his finding to the state.

“All vertebrate fossils in Florida found on public land or public water technically belong to the state unless they say otherwise. As amazing as that tusk is, the Florida Museum has way better stuff. They have whole skeletons so hopefully they are not interested in it and I get to keep it, but we will see when it comes time to report it,” he said.

You can learn more about Lundberg, his epic find and how he got his start as a fossil hunter on Florida’s Fourth Estate. The podcast can be downloaded from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch anytime on News 6+.

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