Boy stumbles on strange beach object identified as rare 1.8M-year-old fossil

Charlie Orchard-Lisle found the tooth at East Lane beach in Bawdsey, a coastal village near Ipswich, Suffolk, in May, news agency SWNS reported.

Found near the shoreline, the specimen was later identified as an upper left molar measuring about 4 inches wide.

Photos of the strange, rock-like object show that the tooth's enamel has been preserved and mineralized over millions of years.

According to Charlie's mother, Eleanor Orchard-Lisle, the timing of the discovery was particularly striking.

"Basically, we were walking along, and 10 minutes before, my son Charlie was saying how much he loves elephants," said Eleanor, according to SWNS.

"We were walking along and could see this thing by the lapping waves. So it must have been quite distinctive, because it caught both our eyes. So we picked it up, and my husband came over."

The mother said the family immediately recognized the object "was something different."

"It had a different feel to it," she said.

"It is quite incredible, and I can't believe you can find something so old that existed 1.8 million years ago and then just rocks up on the beach," said Eleanor Orchard-Lisle, per the SWNS report.