Charleston waters a treasure trove of fossilized shark teeth

When Charleston resident Grant Martin found his first shark tooth on a Hilton Head Island beach when he was a kid, he thought he discovered one of the greatest secrets in the world.

“I thought, ‘Why aren’t more people going crazy over this? What do you mean there’s fossils on the beaches?’ he recalled recently. “Come to find out, they were.”

What Martin, who asked not to be photographed, actually stumbled into was an entire community of avid collectors, divers, diggers and hunters who spend hours scouring beach sand, diving in shallow waters and researching local ecology to find treasure troves hidden just beneath the surface. And 20 years later, he’s turned that childhood wonder into somewhat of a commercial success — all to better fund the hobby, of course.

“The hobby comes first,” he said. “But scuba diving is an expensive hobby, so it kind of takes having to sell some things to cover the cost and the overhead of everything associated with it.”

Preserving history

It’s difficult to get some local shark fossil hunters to talk about the hobby since a diver’s favorite spots are often their best-kept secrets. Part of the reason to keep your spots to yourself is the joy of having your own private areas for treasure hunting, but there’s also an ecological aspect to it, too, Martin said.

“I’ve gone out to places where only a couple other people knew about it, but one thing leads to another, someone talks, information travels and someone thinks there’s potential for money to be made,” he explained. “I’ve come back to places a year later, and it’s completely blown out, dig marks everywhere.

“It’s catastrophic. One bad apple can ruin the whole bushel. If one person gets greedy, they can destroy a place.”

Martin said the Lowcountry is a treasure trove of fossils and other historical artifacts waiting to be found. Mammoth teeth, mastodon fossils, Native American artifacts, antique bottles from Prohibition and Revolutionary War memorabilia are abundant in the water. A big part of that is the complex networks of waterways feeding into the city’s larger rivers.

“Take the Cooper River for example,” he said. “It’s a pretty popular place for divers. You get everything that erodes out of the local creeks and washes into the river. So you get gravel beds where you find a 10- to 20-million-year-old shark’s tooth next to a 200-year-old bottle. You never really know what you’re going to find when you get out there.”

Charleston’s history of mining phosphate for fertilizer plays a big part in that, too. Shortly after the end of the American Civil War, the industry turned the Lowcountry into a booming leader for mining fossilized marine deposits, stirring up the sediment and bringing long-buried artifacts closer to the surface, where many still lie in wait.

Brought to the surface

While hobbyists tend to keep their favorite pieces — such as Martin’s prized megalodon fossils — those that get sold to local retailers often find new life with artists, makers and others.
Margot Keen, owner of Peachy Keen on King Street, is a retailer to whom Martin frequently sells. But the black, fossilized teeth he drops off often land on a shelf as something much more.

Specializing in hand-made jewelry and spiritual items like crystals, Keen turns fossils into custom, one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry, wrapped or woven with precious metals or other materials for an eye-popping fashion statement — or more.

“Being a spiritual shop, people are very into the intention and meaning behind our items, and shark teeth are a powerful energetic symbol,” she said. “They symbolize protection and were worn historically for that. They also represent strength and survival. Some people are just fascinated by the fact that they come from here. It’s a way to bring back a little piece of the ocean.”

A collector herself, Keen said the fossilized teeth were parts of the first pieces of jewelry she started making herself that got her noticed.

“It’s funny to think that the first piece I ever made was shark teeth,” she said. “The Jersey shore was the closest to me as a kid, so I didn’t grow up around this. Now, I feel so lucky to live here. The level of stuff that’s exposed here … They don’t have things like this in other states.”

State stepping in

While anybody can collect teeth that wash ashore, South Carolina is the only state in the nation that specifically permits recreational collection of artifacts and fossils — like shark teeth — from submerged sites.

Divers who collect on a recreational, non-commercial basis have to have a hobby license that is similar to fish and wildlife licenses. Hobbyists report their findings to the S.C. Institute of Archeology and Anthropology (SCIAA), which uses that data to better understand the history of S.C. coastlines and waterways.

State jurisdiction begins at the mean low water mark and includes coastal waters and all inland navigable waterways including rivers, creeks and canals. The state also has jurisdiction of offshore waters up to three miles from the coast.

“It’s a bureaucratic thing,” Martin said, “but it’s a kind of attempt to learn about what’s being recovered and where, so they can gain some insight in the history and ecology of the state.”

The regulations can also serve to better preserve the natural landscape. Summerville, for example, passed laws banning digging into banks after collectors caused significant damage to people’s creeks and retention ditches. Now, even those with a hobby license are banned from digging in the submerged sites — only artifacts retrievable by hand are allowed to be recovered.

And those, like Martin, who wish to turn their hobby into a payday have to get a separate commercial license. Applications for both licenses are available online at sc.edu.

Tips and tricks for budding hobbyists

A full scuba dive into local rivers and coastal waters is probably more than most Charlestonians and tourists are looking to get into, so for those looking to take a morning stroll along the beaches and look for a few teeth to take home, here are some easy tips:

Hot spots. Popular places to search include Folly Beach, especially near the pier at low tide; Morris Island; Demetre Park on James Island; and along the Sawmill Branch Trail in Summerville, often in tidal areas and creek beds.
Storm churn. Shark teeth are especially common after a big storm, which churns up the water and sediment, bringing the fossils up to the surface.
Don’t get stuck. Look for rocky surfaces, not the pluff mud. Mud is really sticky, and it’s difficult for shark teeth to make their way through the layers up to the surface.
Shapes. Check a fossil chart before you go — the shapes of the teeth can be very unusual, so study up and train your eye to catch the unique shapes.
Colors. Look out for exposures of gravel or a difference in color from surrounding sand. That can be a sign of an older sediment layer becoming exposed.
Guides. Check local boat tours that guide guests to islands and sandbars where shark teeth are especially common.
Don’t get greedy. Take only what you need, and leave enough for others looking to add unique pieces to their own collections. Bonus: It helps preserve the local environment.

The biggest tip, however, comes from local collector Grant Martin:

“Get out and explore!” he said. “You can get substantial value from reading about paleontology and history. … But you can derive significantly more value from getting out in the field, getting your hands dirty and learning these things firsthand.”