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AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR
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Product Description
Rare to have come from the famous Dragons Cave (Drachenhohle) in Austria, this the FIRST time we have had the rare opportunity to offer an original matched pair of teeth FROM THE SAME CAVE BEAR! This set of two giant, PRIMARY molar fossil teeth are from the extinct giant Cave Bear, Ursus spelaeus of Europe. These are the crowns from what was already a huge Cave Bear but still a juvenile since the roots had not formed yet! This is the reason the underside shows a hollow cavity where the root normally would be. There are ONLY FOUR of these teeth in a skull - two uppers and two lowers. Cave fossil deposits RARELY produce associated fossils (of the same animal). The remains are a jumbled, mixed-up assemblage of thousands and thousands of years of animals dying, getting scavenged and scattered. The primary molar tooth of the Cave Bear is truly an impressive tooth but to have BOTH left and right side teeth is something more akin to a museum collection specimen. This is THE ONLY set we have to offer so advanced collectors, take note! Both crowns show SUPERB preservation and color with highly detailed cusps showing little wear.
Acquired from a private Dutch collection formed over 40 years ago, this tooth was originally collected from the famous Dragons Cave (Drachenhohle) in Austria, considered to be one of Europe's most famous Cave Bear fossil deposits. Cave Bear fossils from this deposit are much more scarce than Romanian or Siberian fossils as the site has been protected for many decades and collecting has been forbidden since that time. Recommended for anyone wanting a RARE fossil of this classic beast of Europe's Final ice Age, coming from one of the most famous cave bear fossil sites in the world.
HISTORY
The world famous Dragons Cave (Drachenhohle) in Austria, is famous for its deposits of what are believed to be nearly 30,000 cave bear skeletal remains! The earliest evidence of human prehistoric occupation in Austria is also found in the cave where stone tools and hearths have been dated from 67,000 to 33,000 years ago. The cave got its name around the turn of the last century when locals dug the cave floor for a resource of fertilizer from the large build-up of bat dung over the centuries. In the course of digging, many cave bear bones were discovered but since the cave bear was extinct and not known about at the time, villagers believed the bones to be from dragons, hence the name. The site is an enormous cave and has been closed and protected to any digging for some time. You cannot even enter the cave without a tour guide today. Fossils from this cave are rare and no other cave in the world is known so famously for its cave bear fossil deposits as this site.
