Game ball artifact or geofact?

[digordie]

This was found in colorado by a friend. Just wondering what it is. Its very heavy.

 

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[jamey]

the balls are cool,i thought maybe made by the ice that slide across the earth.but toms answer is pretty good,they put them in war clubs like this one found in ontario.,well this one might be a wood balled one but im sure they used rocks too

 

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[Jon Stewart]

I have a bucket of almost perfect round balls from marble size to larger than a golfball size. wife and I were walking to a petrified wood site and I ran into these balls all over the place. There were so many I thought it may have been an old iron ore site (not possible where i was at). Our friends called them concreations which are a hard rock form in a sandstone type rock. Wish I knew how to do this picture posting thing!!!

But I do have a clay ball that was found at an indian site.

 

[rock]

If you dont think they are artifacts you might want to break 1 open if you have a lot of them to see what is inside and how it is formed. I have found some in sandstone and also quartz but just not that many to risk it. Plus they arent big ones.

 

[digordie]

the balls are cool,i thought maybe made by the ice that slide across the earth.but toms answer is pretty good,they put them in war clubs like this one found in ontario.,well this one might be a wood balled one but im sure they used rocks too<img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=726942"/>

That war club is awesome. Ive never seen one of those before.

 

[digordie]

If you dont think they are artifacts you might want to break 1 open if you have a lot of them to see what is inside and how it is formed. I have found some in sandstone and also quartz but just not that many to risk it. Plus they arent big ones.

Ya ill have to see if he wants to do that.

 

[rock]

Ya ill have to see if he wants to do that.

Ive always wanted to crack one of mine open but am scared it might be a game ball. The outer skin should feel rough or even very smooth. The ones I find arent in water and are very smooth like they have been used for 100s of yrs. Well if you do post a pic of it so we can see the inside.

 

[Get-the-point]

Lots of examples from history exist. Yes, some from other countries too.

Arrowheads & Stone Artifacts: A Practical Guide for the Amateur Archaeologist - C. G. Yeager - Google Books

Round shot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stone spheres of Costa Rica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Navajo Sandstone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Prehistoric Stone Balls--a Mystery | Natural History Magazine

Perfectly Round Stone Spheres in Diquis

Nice reply DOF......these are great sources of information......good post and welcome to the board.......We have a Who Are you posted right now. You should post a pic and take a look at who you are talking to...................GTP(Chris)

 

[pointshunter]

I too have something just like this but have no idea what it is

 

[GatorBoy]

Just wanted to add...we have several large phosphate mines in my state and in the dug material there is hundreds of perfect stone spheres. They are the result of bubbles caused by gases released by decaying matter in ancient sediment that solidified and over time minerals caried by ground water filled in the solidified space.
Not saying every stone sphere is one of these..just saying a sphere is a very natural shape.

 

[Tnmountains]

Just wanted to add...we have several large phosphate mines in my state and in the dug material there is hundreds of perfect stone spheres. They are the result of bubbles caused by gases released by decaying matter in ancient sediment that solidified and over time minerals caried by ground water filled in the solidified space.
Not saying every stone sphere is one of these..just saying a sphere is a very natural shape.

OK I am impressed with that response . Did you stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night?

 

[GatorBoy]

LOL. Good one!

 

[GatorBoy]

 

[SevenOut]

This was found in colorado by a friend. Just wondering what it is. Its very heavy.

Today a neighbor brought over a large... very large sphere... that friends found in Colorado near Castle Pines. It appears to be made of a well silica cemented rhyolite or sandstone. It is resistant to weathering and has some loss of the original smooth surface with shallow flaking off to expose the silicified gritty stone used. It is not granite or metamorphic hard rock. When I saw your post I thought it interesting to add with your photographs. I asked if the friend was back in the general area again, to look for colored flakes or chips to give more evidence to add to the mystery.

 

[digordie]

Today a neighbor brought over a large... very large sphere... that friends found in Colorado near Castle Pines. It appears to be made of a well silica cemented rhyolite or sandstone. It is resistant to weathering and has some loss of the original smooth surface with shallow flaking off to expose the silicified gritty stone used. It is not granite or metamorphic hard rock. When I saw your post I thought it interesting to add with your photographs. I asked if the friend was back in the general area again, to look for colored flakes or chips to give more evidence to add to the mystery.

Hey thanks for the pic. Keep us posted if they find artifacts associated with the balls. I know my friends did find artifacts associated with the ones they found. Definitely a mystery,thats for sure.

 

[NorCal Gal]

In my college geology class, I remember the teacher mentioning that nearly perfectly spheroid igneous rocks can be formed when heated/softened material is ejected from a volcano with force and then travels through the air for quite some distance. He explained that simply flying through the air naturally shapes such material into a sphere while, at the same time, cooling the rock so that, by the time it hits the ground, it maintains its spheroid shape. I have found 2 basalt-type spheres here on the property where I live which is approx. 20-30 miles from a huge (now extinct) volcano (now called "Mount St. Helena") that we know erupted during the Tertiary period with such force that half of the mountain blew away and the surrounding native sequoia forest was immediately flattened and covered with ash -- thus creating Napa County's "Petrified Forest". I figure the spheres I found here probably came from there.

 

[SevenOut]

In my college geology class, I remember the teacher mentioning that nearly perfectly spheroid igneous rocks can be formed when heated/softened material is ejected from a volcano with force and then travels through the air for quite some distance. He explained that simply flying through the air naturally shapes such material into a sphere while, at the same time, cooling the rock so that, by the time it hits the ground, it maintains its spheroid shape. I have found 2 basalt-type spheres here on the property where I live which is approx. 20-30 miles from a huge (now extinct) volcano (now called "Mount St. Helena") that we know erupted during the Tertiary period with such force that half of the mountain blew away and the surrounding native sequoia forest was immediately flattened and covered with ash -- thus creating Napa County's "Petrified Forest". I figure the spheres I found here probably came from there.

Sometimes you hear those called volcanic bombs. Many will have the shape of a teardrop, as the narrow end is formed while the molten material is going through the air. They are usually brown to black Basalt ejected materials.

This sphere I was shown from Colorado looked more like a quartzite, except it contained other materials. The volcanic activity here on the Colorado Front Range were more flows and Rhyolite which contains more silica than the Basalts that are silica poor. I did not want to start popping pieces off and should have put this sphere under my binocular microscope for a closer look, but did not think about spending too much time with it, unless the finders could search the area for flint pressure or percussion flakes first. That would be a big plus in possible origins.

After I stumbled across another Colorado sphere find... I thought this could add fuel to the fire. What kind of fire I do not know, and hopefully the person who brought the sphere to me will ask their friend to look a bit closer. But, you know if you have not looked for an Indian campsite, they would not know a chunk from a flake... so unless they are curious, I do not expect much to be made of this at all.

 

[Nicko Mendo]

Found a similar rock in California as well, Mendocino county to be exact. What is it?

 

[Nicko Mendo]

anyone know what this can be?

 

[jamey]

lots of stones were thrown from slings,or bolo's were made from them also back in the day,im not sure when they came about though but if i were an indian back then i would of loved to find round stones just to throw at something,not sure if it was because i used to pitch fastball for many years growing up or not.i never practiced at all before they made me a pitcher just came natural.

 

[intensecrasher]

I have several of those that are from know sites but mine are polished smooth.

By the way digordie, I love your profile picture of the briefcase axe! I recently read an article about that axe on the Hawkeye State Archaeological Society of Iowa's website.

"This is a 3/4 groove axe of the late Archaic period dating to the 1500 B.C. range. The axe is 8 1/2 inches wide by 15 inches long and fits nicely into a briefcase. The axe weighs 25 pounds 4 ounces."