Help please! Know its a rock but could it be an artifact?

[diegocastellano]

Hello and good day to you. Any ideas on this rock? Open to any possible ideas since left with the question of what kinda trouble I could be in. Already tried the univ.of KS and said it was a rock with sediment on it. So they don't care, only I do. Ks is on the bible belt so the face that's on there is already gonna be Taboo! Not that I am any kinda archaeologist, am learning fast! Only 2 people who bothered to answered, one said its an Manuport, other said its an artifact. So I am left to do the work myself. Okay what harm can it do right? What if somebody carried that rock from somewhere and brought it to KS. Why? It had to mean something to someone. Could have came from Russia over the so-called land bridge: only because of the fact it looks like a brown bear in sunlight! Funny is it not using what if's, what they do! Then we have the cave, house or mountain. Who knows what symbols they used at the time. Then the bird, yes its a bird and not a plane God forbid!! In the end we find things, or should say they find us. Is there any meanings to all of this? Who knows, I'll keep looking for stuff till I die! How about you? Thanks for any info you might have, the rock thanks you!

 

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[Daedalus]

You might make a rubbing of the rock onto paper to help bring out the surface so it can be seen better. If you get to do this post it so we can see what it is.

 

[Tigger]

If the lighter colored stuff on the rock is ON it, rather than the patina of the rock being scraped OFF, then I'm guessing a chalcedony sort of deposit on top of the rock. A better pix of pix 1 would help.

If it's ON it, I doubt it's an artifact. If it's scraped OFF, I think the designs are natural, the petroglyphs I've seen are usually not portable.

Did you ask the anthropology department (about artifact possibility) or the geology dept. (about what kind of rock it is.) If you didn't ask both depts, try the other one, they may be more helpful.

Keep lookin' down!!
Tigger

 

[High Plains Digger]

Could that be the bluebird of happiness taking a dump on a mammoth on the way back to the cave dwelling?

Seriously now, rock. Have you ever seen Chinese writing stone? May also be called crysthanum stone. One would swear that it was chinese figures and told where treasure was.

Here are some interesting rocks I just purchased. The artist stayed up all night to paint these sunflowers on rocks so they could be used for jewelry. NOT. This was called flower coral, an agatized coral fossil from Indonesia. Except for 2 matched pairs he has, this is the last of his stock and the mine is gone. Rocks can have some very interesting NATURAL formations due to inclusions, erosion. and a host of other natural reasons. Picasso didn't come around until the 30's.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

That was nice of the University of Kansas to take the time to reply. I agree rock with sediment.

 

[allen_idaho]

Looks like common brown jasper. Nothing special about it.

 

[diegocastellano]

You might make a rubbing of the rock onto paper to help bring out the surface so it can be seen better. If you get to do this post it so we can see what it is.

Thanks never thought of that. I'm taking you mean using tracing paper and a lead bar to create a picture on paper? Looking at it from 60x it seems that the white stuff on the rock is sand turned almost to glass. I'll get on it and post it later. Again thanks for your time!!!! Diego

 

[diegocastellano]

If the lighter colored stuff on the rock is ON it, rather than the patina of the rock being scraped OFF, then I'm guessing a chalcedony sort of deposit on top of the rock. A better pix of pix 1 would help.

If it's ON it, I doubt it's an artifact. If it's scraped OFF, I think the designs are natural, the petroglyphs I've seen are usually not portable.

Did you ask the anthropology department (about artifact possibility) or the geology dept. (about what kind of rock it is.) If you didn't ask both depts, try the other one, they may be more helpful.

Keep lookin' down!!
Tigger

Thanks, at 60x it looks to be sand turned almost into glass really. Scraping is actually somewhat hard to do, tried it! Could of use a hammer only I though that might be somewhat extream! It was the anthropology I asked, will try the geology dept next. Strange though, the whole rock looks to be a type of quartz's. The images on them are only on one side filling only some holes and not the other. Yes Nature has a nice was of doing stuff, just thought it was crazy to find it buried in limestone. Thanks again, will try the other dept and let you know!

 

[diegocastellano]

That was nice of the University of Kansas to take the time to reply. I agree rock with sediment.

Yes it was nice, though I did not like the term sediment. Don't jive since its at 60x looks to be sand turned to almost glass really. Will have to look to see what limestone is made of, sediment forming like that is something I could not do and why only one side of the rock? Then again it's just a rock! Thanks for your reply!

 

[diegocastellano]

Could that be the bluebird of happiness taking a dump on a mammoth on the way back to the cave dwelling?

Seriously now, rock. Have you ever seen Chinese writing stone? May also be called crysthanum stone. One would swear that it was chinese figures and told where treasure was.

Here are some interesting rocks I just purchased. The artist stayed up all night to paint these sunflowers on rocks so they could be used for jewelry. NOT. This was called flower coral, an agatized coral fossil from Indonesia. Except for 2 matched pairs he has, this is the last of his stock and the mine is gone. Rocks can have some very interesting NATURAL formations due to inclusions, erosion. and a host of other natural reasons. Picasso didn't come around until the 30's.

Yes I see those too and are very nice rocks indeed! Nature does play its part and has way before Picasso was even created. Yes rock, are yours not? Special is what it means to you, nothing more! Act's of Nature are the purest forms of art, take a look at your stones, job well done. As for mine, plane and simple but worth checking in too. I'm just trying to explain why sand almost turned to glass would turn up on a rock in that formation and why? At 60x it looks to be placed there, no other reason but the question. Have a Good Day! Diego

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I'm just trying to explain why sand almost turned to glass would turn up on a rock in that formation and why? At 60x it looks to be placed there, no other reason but the question. Have a Good Day! Diego

I cannot answer any of your other questions because I am not a geologist or even a rock hound but dont you think if the markings were "placed there" by a human, it would be something recognizable? Its just random marks, ...nothing anywhere near remotely recocognizable.

Is this an unusual rock in Kansas? Why did you save it? Brown bear in sunlight?

 

[Tigger]

That was nice of the University of Kansas to take the time to reply. I agree rock with sediment.

Yes it was nice, though I did not like the term sediment. Don't jive since its at 60x looks to be sand turned to almost glass really. Will have to look to see what limestone is made of, sediment forming like that is something I could not do and why only one side of the rock? Then again it's just a rock! Thanks for your reply!

If you found it buried in limestone, then sediment makes sense, because limestone is a sedimentary rock. The geology dept or a rock shop or your local rock/mineral club could be more definite. If you like rocks, and learning about what they are, you might see if you have a local rock/mineral club and go to some meetings, maybe they have field trips? I love picking up rocks wherever I go.
Tigger

 

[diegocastellano]

Looks like common brown jasper. Nothing special about it.

Thanks, looked up Jasper and not even close. Since it not found in KS, then I would have to think it got there somehow. Jasper does look nice though only this looks more to be a quartz rock then anything else. Again now I'm left with how a large rock of quartz would end up in NW Kansas!

 

[High Plains Digger]

Something "quartz like" and perhaps quartzite, came from Colorado, either from the first or second set of Rocky Mountains. We are trying the keep the 3rd set here as much as possible. Just a little example of what gets put into new rocks: In a part of the "Red Rocks" formation, the Flat Irons, or "Devils backbone" (Sandstone sea floor pushed up to near verticality by the newest Rockies) I found a little pebble of what may be quartzite. In that pebble was a crinoid stem. So the crinoid lived and died, as fossilized in sandstone, converted to some point at some point to quartzite (as in medium or well done in the conversion), was eroded out and tumbled in a stream to become a pebble, the stream sediments turned into sandstone, and that exposed so that I could find it.

The other possiblilty, but probably not in "quartzite" would be a pseudomorph. Simply put, an "orange" grew but then was encased in cement. Then it was dissolved by whatever process, and later, apple juice filled in the orange hole. After breaking the concrete, you have an orange shape that tastes like apple. Many minerals have been "pseudomorphed".

Now is the important part: If that rock has meaning and significance to you, so be it. Put it in your display case and enjoy it. It has been around a long time just waiting for you to come along and understand its importance.

 

[diegocastellano]

I'm just trying to explain why sand almost turned to glass would turn up on a rock in that formation and why? At 60x it looks to be placed there, no other reason but the question. Have a Good Day! Diego

I cannot answer any of your other questions because I am not a geologist or even a rock hound but dont you think if the markings were "placed there" by a human, it would be something recognizable? Its just random marks, ...nothing anywhere near remotely recocognizable.

Is this an unusual rock in Kansas? Why did you save it? Brown bear in sunlight?

To answer that, Nope! No rocks are an Kansas all are imported! Now considering the fact that parts of KS were under water way back when, could have been on the shoreline back then. Have you ever found something, picked it up and tossed it back only to come back to get it later? How some things just pull you towards it for no apparent reason? Can not explain it really, why I had to go and wash it, put it in sunlight. Call it creepy, its just a feeling. As for the brown bear, just the light coming in from the window that morning. Again back out of the pic's and take a look. It's something that's been on my mind for awhile, call it something you just cant set aside, It sits on my shelf people ask about it. Might as well learn something about it. Thanks, still reading about limestone, Jasper, and if I did not live in the middle of nowhere, would have gone to a rock shop yesterday! The closes town with anything is like 4 hrs away, shame too! Kansas is so out of date with the times it's like going back 10yrs.

 

[diegocastellano]

Something "quartz like" and perhaps quartzite, came from Colorado, either from the first or second set of Rocky Mountains. We are trying the keep the 3rd set here as much as possible. Just a little example of what gets put into new rocks: In a part of the "Red Rocks" formation, the Flat Irons, or "Devils backbone" (Sandstone sea floor pushed up to near verticality by the newest Rockies) I found a little pebble of what may be quartzite. In that pebble was a crinoid stem. So the crinoid lived and died, as fossilized in sandstone, converted to some point at some point to quartzite (as in medium or well done in the conversion), was eroded out and tumbled in a stream to become a pebble, the stream sediments turned into sandstone, and that exposed so that I could find it.

The other possiblilty, but probably not in "quartzite" would be a pseudomorph. Simply put, an "orange" grew but then was encased in cement. Then it was dissolved by whatever process, and later, apple juice filled in the orange hole. After breaking the concrete, you have an orange shape that tastes like apple. Many minerals have been "pseudomorphed".

Now is the important part: If that rock has meaning and significance to you, so be it. Put it in your display case and enjoy it. It has been around a long time just waiting for you to come along and understand its importance.

Here I'm reading about limestone and Jasper and how KS was under water at the time. Now will check into pseudomrphed! Whats got me is that KS don't have any rocks and here's one the size of a baseball and weighs 20 Oz's. I just needed more ideas to go with. That goes with your last part understanding! Thanks!

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Now is the important part: If that rock has meaning and significance to you, so be it. Put it in your display case and enjoy it.

I agree. Its a pretty rock. I just dont see anything man made.

I find pretty river rocks here in South Florida all the time. The only native rock we have is coral rock and limestone and we have no smooth river rocks of any sort. Rocks come from other states for use in driveways and landscaping. Tourists also bring back pretty rocks as a reminder of a vacation. They often get tossed in the flower bed, driveway or ditch. In todays day and age there are no boundaries. To suggest it may have come from Russia over the land bridge is wild imagination IMO.

Its a pretty rock. Thanks for posting, we can all learn from it. But I think the word "artifact" does not apply.

 

[allen_idaho]

My mistake. I meant to say Chert. It's brown chert. Not Jasper, although the two are very similar.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

My mistake. I meant to say Chert. It's brown chert. Not Jasper, although the two are very similar.

flint? http://geology.com/rocks/chert.shtml

http://geology.com/rocks/sedimentary-rocks.shtml

 

[High Plains Digger]

I don't understand the white and brown rocks. Alan, you got some splainin to do.

In my book, chert, jasper and flint are just lower grades of agate. I know that isn't exactly true, and the guys that cut the stuff will be able to define them more precisely. Like, agate is pretty and worth something and everything else isn't. Either. But I think some of it is how fine the grains are when the rock forms. And that isn't totally true either. In No. Georgia, chert is just slightly more than a really hard compacted clay, but my dad called things chert that looked very agatey. AND HE KNEW EVERYTHING THERE WAS TO KNOW. Any arguements? Flint generally seems to be lower on the quality scale, except that I have broken flint cobbles in England, and they range from cloudy grey to beer bottle brown and agate like on the beaches of Brighton. I think fine grained quartzite gets thrown into the chert-agate-jasper-flint fray also, even though it is really different. We need a cutter to scientifically define these for us.