Tusk-like object unearthed on north Norfolk beach following storm surge.
Has another mammoth been found at West Runton?
That is the question being asked by fossil hunters in north Norfolk after the weekend storm surge unearthed a tusk-like object.
The discovery was made on the same beach where the skeleton of a mammoth, one of the most complete ever discovered, was unearthed after stormy weather in 1990.
Other interesting finds made at the weekend included pieces of what is believed to be a steppe bison - another extinct animal - and part of what is believed to be its jaw.
The mammoth haul follows similar finds on a stretch of coastline where parts of rhino and hippo have also be found. However, the discovery of a tusk-shaped object has been described as 'exciting'.
A tooth belonging to a mammoth was also found at West Runton last year.
Louise O'Shea shared pictures of the potentially mammoth discovery and possible steppe bison jaw on the Norfolk Fossil Finds Facebook page.
She runs the beach cafe at West Runton and was hunting for fossils with her friend Catherine Askew.
Speaking about the find, Louise said: 'It was big and embedded.'
But she added: 'Catherine and I would never attempt to dig something like that out. Luckily for us there were some experts there today and we passed it on to them.'
When asked if it was a tusk, Catherine replied: 'I think they thought it could be ribs or something on those lines.'
Meanwhile, Sam Englestone unearthed what another fossil hunter has identified as part of a bison which last roamed the Earth alongside the mammoths 700,000 years ago.
North Norfolk District Council is currently bidding for funding to rebrand a stretch of coastline - including the West Runton Freshwater Bed - the Deep History Coast in recognition of some of the finds made.
The West Runton Freshwater Bed is a five-foot thick layer of organic-rich mud deposited by a medium sized river about 600,000 to 700,000 years ago, long before the beginning of the Ice Ages. The deposit, just east of West Runton, is believed to be full of all sorts of fossils.
Have you made any interesting finds along the north Norfolk coast? Email the details to: ally.mcgilvray@archant.co.uk
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