Jurassic Shark
by Gail Harrington"If you want a big find, Gail, get ready for a hard ride," he
warns, which doesn't worry me until too late. As we bounce along in
Hermelinda and up impossible inclines, I swear he's thisclose to
driving us off of a cliff. Then he spots something, a long shape
that stands out in the layers of rocky sediment, and he screeches
Hermelinda to a stop. "See the tooth sockets? That's the jawbone of
a dolphin, so we know that we're on a broken piece of the ocean
floor." Roberto starts searching for other signs too - patches of
brown organic matter, fossils, small bone fragments, and the wind.
It's as if he can almost smell a big find, following these clues
right to the exposed tip of a magnificent four-inch megalodon.
"Imagine how many sharks lived over millions of years. Then realize
that each one had about 140 teeth that could be replaced hundreds
of times," Roberto says. "For every megalodon that lived, there
could be thousands of teeth - the only remnants, since sharks don't
have bones. Your chances of finding one are pretty good. So search
this area thoroughly, and I'll be back."
About 50 feet from the place where Roberto made his find, I spot a
pointed shape that stands out in the sediment. I am thrilled but
cautious - until I carefully brush off the powdery magnesium-rich
sediment that had protected the tooth for millions of years, and I
can fully see its size and serrated edge. At that moment, I know
I've found a shiny, well-preserved megalodon. And where is my shark
master in this moment of discovery? Indisposed.
When he finally returns, Roberto is even more excited than I am as
he works cautiously with brush and tools to extricate the tooth,
which comes out nearly intact. "Don't worry about that small damage
on the root. My restorer, Nestor, will make it perfect," he
promises. And he does. Back in Ica, I relinquish my 28 shark teeth
to Nestor Diaz Cegarra, who cleans, polishes, and repairs them
before I leave for
Lima the next day.
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