It’s a sunny day, perfect for a trip to the beach. Eighteen-year-old Tamás is enjoying time with his family and his dog at Langevelderslag beach, about an hour from Amsterdam.
However, the relaxing seaside walk takes an unexpected turn when the teenager’s dog suddenly runs towards him with a strange object in its mouth.
'Stick' turns out to be something else entirely
“At first, I thought it was just a stick. I even threw it away for my dog to fetch,” recalls Tamás. Only upon closer inspection did he realise with astonishment: “It strongly resembled a fossil – something like a tooth.”
Intrigued, Tamás took the beach find home and shared a photo of it on Reddit. “Just found this on a Dutch beach. Looks like a tooth. Does anyone know what this is?” he asked the community.
The post quickly drew attention, racking up hundreds of upvotes and a flood of comments. Suggestions ranged from a sloth claw to a shark tooth, even a pterosaur toe.
The mystery was eventually solved by a zoo archaeologist, who identified the object as likely being a “fossilised inner horn, probably from a European bison that lived during the last Ice Age, dating back between 100,000 and 25,000 years.”
This epoch, during which around eight percent of the Earth’s surface was covered in ice and sea levels were roughly 125 metres lower than today, ended approximately 19,000 years ago.
Museum piece or bedroom decoration?
Tamás has sent photos of the find to the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, the Netherlands’ largest natural history museum, for confirmation. “If the museum shows interest, it would be brilliant if it could be displayed there,” he says. “Otherwise, I’ll build a small wooden stand and display it in my room.”
The Reddit community is thoroughly impressed. One user commented: “Looks like a horn from a steppe bison. Bone finds like this used to be quite common among trawler fishermen from the Dogger Bank. A really cool find.”
Tamás himself gives all the credit to his four-legged friend: “Big praise to my dog! What an amazing discovery!”
