Diving duo makes prehistoric discovery

Half a mile off Venice Beach, deep below the surface of the water, two divers, Blair Morrow and Alex Lundberg, found a sign of prehistoric times buried in the sand.

“We actually didn’t have very high hopes for the spot,” said Morrow.

The two describe the moments leading up to their ancient discovery.

“We dropped in and started swimming on the north side of the reef,” said Lundberg.

“Partway through the dive, I was just kind of hunting and looking around,” said Morrow. “I saw a big kind of silt cloud. And I was just like, oh, Alex must be up to something good over there.”

That something good was 4 feet long and could be up to a million years old.

“I saw this like, looks like wood, just like a thin strip of wood sticking out,” said Lundberg. “I start fanning it, get about maybe two and a half feet of it exposed, still haven’t found either end of it. And so I’m thinking like, Oh man, it’s going to be a tough one to get it out. So check my air, make sure I got enough air to start working on this thing.”

“I went over to see, and he was digging out a tusk, which was crazy. I’ve never seen him so happy,” said Morrow.

Said to be an American Mastodon tusk, it took some strength and skill to get it up onto the boat.

“We made a sling out of a beach towel, and we put in the beach towel and just hoisted over the side of the boat,” said Lundberg.

This weekend, these friend’s passion turned into a treasure hunt.

Morrow is no stranger to fossils and teeth.

“The one Alex found is a beautiful brown color. And probably the most well-preserved one that I’ve ever seen,” said Morrow.

“That’s what I told my girlfriend; I’m like, ‘Our kids are going to inherit this tusk. This is the family tusk now.'” said Lundberg.

That was the first time Lundberg has found a tusk. Morrow found one in pieces, in the same spot a few years back.

But Venice is the shark tooth capital of the world, and many people go home with a tooth or two.

Even WINK News reporter Haley Zarcone didn’t leave empty-handed; she was given a megalodon shark’s tooth as a souvenir.