Specimen, 500,000 Years Old, Unearthed Near San Antonio
The historical jawbone that Sampson used to pacify the Philistines, in the Bible story, had nothing on the jawbone of the Elephas Columbi, or Columbian elephant, which now reposes in the museum of Main Avenue High School. The two fragments of the jawbone measure, together, two feet in length. Each is about nine inches in height and six inches in thickness.
Embedded in each of the fragments are two teeth, each six inches long, four inches wide and extend about eight inches into the jawbone proper. The upper surfaces of each tooth are serrated and convoluted into ridges about one-quarter of an inch apart. The crown of the teeth is of a pearl white enamel in an excellent state of preservation. The dentin, or outer surface of the teeth, that part below the crown, has changed into a friable, chalk-like substance.

