Woman Finds 12-Million-Year-Old Megalodon Tooth Washed Up on Florida Beach

A retired second-grade teacher was left stunned after discovering a giant megalodon tooth washed up on a Venice, Florida beach.

Beth Orticelli told Newsweek she was walking along a stretch of sand in Manasota Key with her husband in mid-November when they spotted “a rock sticking up out of the sand,” close to the shoreline,

“The pointy part of the tooth was stuck in the sand, but it plucked right out, and it was in perfect condition,” she said. “We were screaming like we won the lottery!”

The megalodon tooth, which is roughly the size of Orticelli’s hand, has already been examined by an independent expert, who told her that it could be between “two and 24 million years old.”

According to the Florida Museum, fossil shark teeth can be found all over the state. “Parts of Florida have been underwater on and off for millions of years,” it said. “Most fossil shark teeth are found in sedimentary rock where the layers were once at the bottom of shallow areas of the ocean.”

The museum said that beaches and creek beds are the best places to look for fossilized shark teeth. “Because fossils are usually buried in sediment layers, water is your friend,” it said. “It erodes the harder sedimentary layers and exposes the fossil shark teeth.”

Crucially, while most vertebrate fossils and fossil sites in Florida are legally protected, the abundance of shark teeth means they are exempt from any fossil permit requirements.

Orticelli said the tooth she found represents a “rare anomaly” as fossilized teeth of this kind “generally do not wash up,” on beaches. She said the fossil experts she spoke to had “no way to confirm how it got there” though plenty of theories have been put forward after she posted pictures of her discovery to Facebook.

“People thought three things: a diver either lost it on his way back to shore, someone planted it there as a good deed, or it just was buried outside of Venice, where there is a known fossil field and the recent waves and hurricanes had unearthed it where it was protected for all these years, and it washed up,” she said.

“Almost everybody was genuinely excited for us. But of course, there were a couple of nonbelievers, mostly divers, who had spent 20 to 30 years looking and never found one of that quality.”

Whatever the circumstances that led to the discovery, she’s just happy that they found it. A former second-grade teacher, Orticelli moved from Chicago to Florida two years ago and quickly discovered shark-tooth hunting.

“I’m obsessed, because it’s like exercise, calming and excitement all in one,” she said. “When I first got here, we bought little sifting tools, like you’re panning for gold. I would find these tiny little teeth and get so excited. I would give them to my grandkids, send them to former students, and made a giant bowl in my family room.”

“Everyone’s always in search of the elusive megalodon teeth here, they’re fascinating to me because they are from the dinosaurs and have been extinct for at least 10 million years. It’s pretty unusual to find one washed up on the shore, and especially in this condition.”

Orticelli hasn’t decided what she is going to do with the tooth. “Lots of people online asked if I was going to sell it and I had no idea what it was worth but since I look every week, I couldn’t imagine parting with it,” she said. “But for something that’s about 12 million years old it’s only probably worth several hundred dollars!”

For now, it’s got pride of place on Orticelli’s coffee table, ready and waiting for the visit of her two young grandchildren. In the meantime, she has no plans to slow down her shark tooth hunting. “I thought after finding the big one, I wouldn’t have any interest in continuing to look, but I’ve already been back twice and probably will still be out there every week,” she said.