A fragment of cranium with the last left upper molar of a mastodon Tetralophodon longirostris, which is a distant relative of the elephant, was found in a sand quarry in Verejeni village of Telenesti district. Teodor Obada, scientific researcher of the Zoology Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, has told IPN that the molar is about 11 million and a half years old.

“The molar was found in sandy clay that includes elements of mollusks and conches. These are good indicators of the geological age, which I assessed at over 11.5 million years. The conches are marine and this means that the delta of a river flowing into the Sarmatian Sea was there at that time,” explained the researcher.

Teodor Obada expects that another cranium fragment with a part of a similar tooth exists there and he is thus decided to continue the research in the quarry when the weather permits.

The molar discovered on the territory of Telenesti district will be examined at the Zoology Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova and will be then transmitted to the Telenesti District Museum of History and Ethnography for being included in its collection.

An upper molar similar to that found in Verjeni, with the age of about 10 million years, was discovered in Farladeni, Causeni, in the 1930s. This is now part of the collection of the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi.

In Moldova, similar fossils were found in 11 parts. These were between 12 and five million years old.