Eight-year-old Riley Gracely’s vacation adventure took an unexpected turn when he stumbled upon a massive shark tooth fossil during a visit to Palmetto Fossil Excursions in Summerville, South Carolina.

While exploring piles of dirt and gravel, Riley noticed something resembling a tooth and started digging. To his astonishment, he unearthed a huge fossilized tooth from the angustiden shark species, estimated to be between 22 million to 28 million years old.

The tooth measured 4.75 inches, about the size of Riley’s hand, and was dubbed a “once in a lifetime find” by Sky Basak, the owner of Palmetto Fossil Excursions.

The Gracely family, on their annual vacation to Myrtle Beach, had ventured to Summerville, a location rich with prehistoric material, including various sea creature remains.

South Carolina’s coastal plain houses numerous such fossil-rich locations, providing a glimpse into the region’s geological history shaped by millions of years of ocean and river activities. Riley’s family has a tradition of searching for shark teeth, and their visit to Palmetto Fossil has become an annual pilgrimage.

The discovery was made in an area where trucks dumped material from a property being developed for a lake. Riley’s find joined the ranks of impressive fossils found by the Basaks, who intend to donate their discoveries to the Mace Brown Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston.

Palmetto Fossil, in its Facebook post, described the fossil layer as one of the richest they had ever seen, with stunning colors resulting from the sediment in which the fossils fossilized.

The Basaks, who started the business in 2020 as a part-time venture, have seen rapid growth and are considering starting a research facility to delve into South Carolina’s geological history.

Riley Gracely plans to keep his extraordinary find in a glass display box, proudly sharing it with friends. While there’s potential for the tooth to contribute to research or be displayed, for now, Riley gets to relish the joy of a remarkable discovery that has fascinated both young and old alike.