“Unlike less ethical hobby divers in the area, he won’t sell what he finds on the archaeology black market.”
Fossil Shark’s teeth would be part of the paleontology black market, if there is one.
Was wondering about that as well.
I don’t see any mention of a black market for the teeth…
As long as they are collected via permit, you are free to do want you want with them after review.
The institute occasionally asks for a donation of the find, or to make a cast of one, Spirek said. If a historic or prehistoric find is striking enough, staff will ask the diver to lead them to it. But the state releases the teeth’s property title to the diver after the report is reviewed, as long as there’s a permit.
Megalodons are the crown jewels of the display case. The best of them can be worth more than $1,000 on the trade market, although archaeologists frown on the practice. While they are found far more rarely than other species, Megalodons are all over the place in the Lowcountry.I guess that "archaeology" was used since that is the department that regulates the collection of fossils.
I think this is the issue, not prehistoric sharks teeth - which as has been mentioned would fall under the heading of paleontology and not archaeology:
“Anywhere in the Lowcountry you’re in a river, you could find a fossil,” he said. Divers’ fascination with the Cooper is about more than the monsters. Similar, slightly smaller teeth from an even older shark are found, ALONG WITH mammoth fossils, CIVIL WAR ARTIFACTS AND SHIPWRECKS.
(Emphasis added, obviously)
I remember hearing people in Florida talk about all of the marine fossils that were found - including Megalodon teeth, when they were making road cuts for the creation of I-95. Fossils are also apparently found all of the time in creeks and rivers in Florida.
Hell, when my dad was a kid in Iowa he and his brothers used to find marine fossils.
Edited to add:
After reading the entire article I see that there is some arcane licensing going on in South Carolina covering the collection of fossils and artifacts by divers on public property, which is administered by the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Once the find has been reported, reviewed and cleared by the licensing agency the divers are free to sell them.
I would find them in northern WI – corals and stuff in limestone.
The Midwest has some fairly interesting rocks, fossils and artifacts but I don’t think he and his brothers ever found one of these:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/earliest-sea-scorpion-discovered-iowa
I imagine that the pickins were better down there where the glaciers hadn’t scrubbed everything to the bedrock – I was probably finding detritus from Manitoba.
Edit done to down
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