Shark teeth take always been highly sought-after beach finds. And while modernistic collectors comb the shores for them for fun, shark teeth were of real use centuries ago. Coastal Native Americans—in Florida and the Chesapeake, particularly—used them as weapons. "Sometimes they'd find huge megalodon teeth and hone them down into spear points," says Anna Marlis Burgard, author of The Beachcomber's Companion: An Illustrated Guide to Collecting and Identifying Beach Treasures.

Throughout her life and work, Burgard, a Tybee Island, Georgia, resident, has traversed countless beaches in search of treasures. And while her collection is full of all types of embankment finds—her favorites are baby's ears shells—she's learned a thing or two about the best ways and places to observe shark teeth.

photo: Mike Morgan

A shark tooth on a beach in Calvert Canton, Maryland.

How to place them:

Along the tideline of a embankment, keep an eye out for triangular shapes. While newer teeth are nevertheless white, black teeth—which are more mutual finds—have been fossilized over fourth dimension. Wide bases are attached to thinner triangles of varying sharpness. "Sometimes, shark teeth will have serrated edges and are curved in a certain style, depending on what side of the mouth the tooth was on," Burgard says. For serious hunters, a naked heart and salt-h2o pruned fingers are not enough; chances of finding shark teeth increase the more you dig and sift through the sand. "Some people utilise ordinary kitchen sieves or kitty-litter scoops, simply these have likewise fine a mesh, too wide slats," Burgard says. "This visitor makes sifters specifically for finding shark'southward teeth."

Where to notice them:

Anywhere there are sharks, there are shark teeth, but some beaches are especially prime. Burgard says that in her experience, the best beaches for finding shark teeth are: Casey Key, Florida; Cherry Grove Embankment, South Carolina; Manasota Key, Florida; Mickler's Landing at Ponte Vedra Embankment Florida; Topsail Embankment, North Carolina; Tybee Isle, Georgia; and Venice Embankment, Florida, which claims to the title of "Shark Molar Capital of the Earth," due to its position above a deep fossil layer.

When to find them:

"Whenever in that location'south beach replenishment, or the ocean floor gets dredged, more than shells and shark teeth are sure to bear witness up," Burgard says. This could be manmade or afterwards a storm. Depression tide is usually better and places like sandbars, where h2o constantly shifts the sand, tend to be hot spots.

Where to notice more than people who honey them:

"At that place's a very devoted fan base," Burgard says. With a yearly Shark Tooth Festival in Venice Embankment and dozens of Facebook pages where enthusiasts merchandise tips and tricks, like this 1 focusing on fossils found in Due north Carolina, this one dedicated entirely to megalodon teeth, and this one where people can trade and sell teeth from around the world, you don't take to expect far to find fellow tooth hunters.

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