The Sulphur River runs east to west just a few miles south of Paris, Texas. Both the main river and the North and South Sulphur River branches are excellent spots to try your hand at excavating fossilized shark teeth. A good place to start is the North Sulphur branch just beyond where State Highways 19 and 24 merge. Look for fossils only on public land.
People from museums, rock shops and field trips have found teeth from extinct tiger sharks that lived in the Miocene epoch that was 23 to 5 million years ago. Also from the Miocene are the one- to two-inch long teeth of mako sharks. From the Upper Cretaceous Period, 144 to 110 million years ago, you may find extinct crow shark teeth measuring about an inch long.
In addition to shark teeth, you can find fossils from Pleistocene era mammoths, sloths and other large mammals. Also present are several Cretaceous marine animal fossils such as reptiles, corals, turtles and rays.
If you're visiting other parts of Texas and want to continue your fossil hunt, shark teeth are also present in Dallas County, Denton County, Hunt County and Tarrant County. Like Paris, Texas, in Lamar County, Hunt County also sits on the Sulphur River.
