When I first ran across the story about the Coso artifact, it struck me as bizarre, but I wondered if it qualified as a synchronicity. Now I think the synchronicity lies in what the artifact may reveal about life half a million years ago.
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Geodes look like ordinary stones, but their cavities are often a self-contained world of brilliantly colored crystals and minerals. When a geode is carefully sawed in half, it’s a prize coveted by rock collectors. So in 1961, three co-owners of a gem and stone shop in Olancha, California traveled six miles northeast to the Coso Mountains to go rock hunting.
Near the top of of a 4,300 foot peak that overlooked the dry bed of Owens Lake, they found a geode encrusted with fossils. Mike Miskell, one of the owners of the shop, cut it open with a diamond blade saw and was astonished to find something that resembled a spark plug.
In the middle of the geode was a metal core about two millimeters in diameter. It was enclosed by what appeared to be a ceramic collar that was encased in a hexagonal sleeve carved out of wood that had petrified. Encircling this was the outer layer of the geode that consisted of bits of fossil shells, hardened clay, pebbles, and “two nonmagnetic metallic objects resembling a nail and a washer.” A copper fragment remained between the ceramic and petrified wood that suggested the two may have been separated at one point by the decomposed copper sleeve.
X-rays were taken of the object and Paul Willis, the editor of INFO Journal, was the first to notice the similarity between the Coso artifact and a modern spark plug. The Coso geode was exhibited for several months at the Eastern California Museum in Independence, then Wally Lane, one of the shop owners, apparently took possession of it and in 1969, put it up for sale for $25,000.
In the original report on the find, an unnamed geologist estimated that the geode, based on the fossils it contained, was half a million years old. Not surprisingly, there’s some controversy about this. If you Google Coso artifact, you’ll see the theories range from: a 1920s era Champion spark plug commonly used in Ford’s Model T; something left from an advanced civilization like Atlantis; evidence of prehistoric ET visitors;and evidence that time travelers from the future left it behind.
Unfortunately, the mystery remains unsolved. The location of the Coso artifact is unknown. Of the three men who discovered it, one is dead, the whereabouts of the others are unknown, and the sole survivor refuses pubic comment.
I've added nancy's new necklace to the post on the moldavite update! Got to look @ the date again!
nancy – i'm so glad you got the necklace too – my dreams continue – every night – as does my increased energy level physically and mentally – am trying the ring back a bit now for the whole night again – but again, just two or so nights ago, took it off again about 4am when i was awakened in a cold sweat and couldn't go back to sleep – anyway –
trish – love your "rock rearranging phase" phrase!
Nancy – keep us posted on the moldavite stories! We've got an update going up in a few days… I'm in a rock rearranging phase!
Fascinating. I would love to know what it is, and how old. I am currently in a rock "phase", having found a perfect moldavite necklace and a book titled "The Crystal Bible." The first night I had the necklace, like Gypsywoman, my husband (not me, for some reason) had a nightmare. I have no idea of the two are linked, but I do find when I wear the necklace I seem to have creative thought processes. Again, I have no idea if they are linked, but I am enjoying the book.
well, even with the dating issue, an incredibly intriguing story! but to think of knowing the date, for sure! yummmy! i grew up with a deep appreciation for "rock hunting" as whenever we traveled, our mother would haul a small trailer behind us so she would have somewhere to keep her rocks she'd picked up – can't tell you how many fossils and geodes and crystals, rocks and small boulders we hauled around and had in our homes – anyway, great post!
Thanks for the information, Jeff!
I've heard of this before, and I think the problem here is the dating is wrong. Radiometric dating techniques aren't as accurate as a dating method as many scientists would have you believe. It's based on a theory called Uniformitarianism, which suggests that natural laws and processes uniformly operate at the same rate now, as they did in the past. They realized that that wasn't entirely true, so they set the 'point of equilibrium' at 1950 and created a set of 'correction tables'. Sometimes the alleged uniformity can be disrupted by something else, such as a volcanic eruption. Such as, samples taken from a volcanic eruption known to have occurred during the 1800s returning dates of being millions of years old. The sudden heat contamination throws off the dates. So in other words, in order to accurately date something with radiometric dating, you would need to know that the layer has never been contaminated by something.
I don't know what method was used to date this rock, but whatever method used, I think the date is probably wrong. It would be interesting to know how old it really is though. It's still a mystery as to what it is and why it was there.