Home Tooth - Woolly Rhinoceros

Tooth - Woolly Rhinoceros

Object

Fossil

Production date

300,000BC=8,000BC)

Object number

1991.882

Physical Description

Lower molar tooth of a woolly rhino. Identification confirmed by Prof. Adrian Lister.

Object history

Tooth, woolly rhino, found in Stoke Newington.

Associated Place

Material

Bone

Dimension

Height (Whole): 65mm
Width (Whole): 50mm
Depth (Whole): 30mm

Exhibition Label

From ‘Hackney 300,000 BC: Meet the Neanderthal neighbours and curious creatures of the borough's Old Stone Age’

Woolly Rhinoceros
(300,000 - 10,000 years ago)


Around 300,000 years ago, the warm climate was replaced by a cooler period lasting 60,000 years. This led to the appearance of animals suited to these conditions.

The woolly rhino was covered in thick, reddish-brown hair to protect against cold weather. Their impressive horns measured 2 feet long.

The species went extinct, when warming conditions replaced their preferred habitat of huge open grasslands with woodland.

This tooth was found in Stoke Newington, while the leg bone was discovered in the Thames Valley and owned by a local collector Mr Soul.

On display?

No

Inscription

VIII in ink