Federal archaeologist Rick Kanaski looked over the ridged, bony fragment that stood out last week from the surrounding crushed shell that was left from a sifted pile of soil at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge.
"Oh, it's a tooth," he exclaimed, prompting volunteers Cheryl Cummins and Mary Fredell to pause in the sifting.
It was ridged for grinding, he said. But was it from a horse? Or may some prehistoric plant-eater?
Kind of neat. You hardly ever hear about shovel testing for sites.