Strange round smooth rock ball

[ctbond7]

I found a very smooth white round rock like ball. Very very harden and has marks in it and is very round but not 100% round but close. Can anyone help with an idea of what this might be? It was 1 foot under ground and was found in Alabama/Mississippi line. Very smooth rock but strange. Looks and reminds me of a cue ball but is not 100% round or size of a pool cue ball. Please help if you have any ideas thanks!

 

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[lairmo]

Stone?..not ivory?

 

[ctbond7]

Its stone.. I can’t figure out what it is.. My nephew likes to break open rocks to look for geods and I caught him hitting this round rock with a sledge hammer and it didn’t even put a scratch on it.. it’s still smooth all the way around even though there are marks.. it looks just like a pool cue. All and is about the same weight but little bit smaller and not 100% round.. it’s extremely hard. Won’t break according to my nephew who is 13 and can swing a hammer pretty hard. Any ideas?

 

[ctbond7]

It may be ivory or ivory can take that much beating? And what would an ivory ball be doing in middle of no where 1-2 feet under ground? Any ideas...?

 

[Madmox]

I found a very smooth white round rock like ball. Very very harden and has marks in it and is very round but not 100% round but close. Can anyone help with an idea of what this might be? It was 1 foot under ground and was found in Alabama/Mississippi line. Very smooth rock but strange. Looks and reminds me of a cue ball but is not 100% round or size of a pool cue ball. Please help if you have any ideas thanks!

Looks like a pallino. The small target bocce ball. They can be stone or a plethora of other heavy dense things

 

[ctbond7]

It does look like that... but it’s not 100% round and it seems stone to me. Plus i found it Way away from any houses but never know.. plus the depth of it was strange, I really don’t know what it is or have any idea. It might just be a very smooth round white rock.. but wish I knew why it was under the ground away from other rocks or people..

 

[UnderMiner]

Looks to be either an old mill ball (used to grind stuff back in the day) or a Native American stone game ball, they played games too, although what games we don't quite know.

 

[ctbond7]

That is true! I thought about it being a part of a game since I found it and makes since it was an old game we don’t know about or one that is very similar to our games these days. Thank you very much for the help!

 

[Madmox]

It does look like that... but it’s not 100% round and it seems stone to me. Plus i found it Way away from any houses but never know.. plus the depth of it was strange, I really don’t know what it is or have any idea. It might just be a very smooth round white rock.. but wish I knew why it was under the ground away from other rocks or people..

Maybe not perfectly round but I would be blown away if it is naturally occurring

 

[Madmox]

Maybe a ball from a bolas?

 

[ctbond7]

It could be.. I will have to get it looked at by a professional or research at a university, because it is a strange round rock in middle of no where. I want to know what it is!

 

[Madmox]

I had another thought last night. And though it is a long shot. I wonder if it could be a gizzard stone from a prehistoric animal

 

[Hawks88]

Welcome to tnet from Niagara Falls. Sorry I have no idea what it might be.

 

[Raider19962]

I am so glad you posted this. I've found several of those here in Delaware at a colonial homesite. I have no clue what they are. I thought it was a cue ball at first. It appears to be marble, or some similar white stone. I'm going to have to take mine to the local archeologist friend who identifies oddball stuff like this and see what he thinks, if the answer doesn't pop up here.

 

[Plumbata]

My first thought was also that it is a milling ball, likely made of a tough ceramic, used to pulverize and turn various substances to a fine powder.

 

[Raider19962]

After a little research it is possible they are ceramic or clay marbles, actual toys from as early as 1750 to around 1860. Of course, they could still be something else altogether! The ones I found are about the same size as the one pictured here, and not at all perfectly round, but close.

 

[lairmo]

I only asked if Ivory because early billiards were made of ivory, but if it's not perfectly round I don't know. My first thought was a gaming stone of some sort. I have found smaller deburring balls around the tracks but nothing of that size. I'm not familiar with milling balls, will have to look them up.

 

[smokeythecat]

Welcome, my best guess would be a native American game ball. I can't think of any modern "ball" use.

 

[OreElse]

I have no idea what you've got there but it's interesting. Welcome to T-Net!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Very interesting find, congrats!