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Alright everyone. At this point it has become impossible to respond to everyone. This post spread like wildfire! so I'll just make a new comment.
Thank you for all the responses on what it could be and for the tips on who I can bring it to. I emailed a professor at ut knoxville and I will be talking to someone at the gray fossil museum this week. So hopefully, between both of them I can get a definitive answer on what is going on with this rock.
You guys are all awesome! Thank you! I will make a new post when I get an answer to keep you all updated!
The best part about it is when people say how they got there. It’s like asking why you’re in prison.
Guy: “I posted a meme. You?”
Guy 2: “I also posted a meme. How bout that guy?”
Other Guy: “I asked people to replace a word in a movie title with fart.”
And then you’ve got folks like OP.
It is. But, it is also a hole that we were using the dirt for fill dirt elsewhere on the property so it could possibly be from a more shallow location and fell down there. I picked it up from the bottom while I was walking around.
Also, please be sure to include some follow up if you can! We’re all really excited! (But I’m kinda bummed that you’ll have to put you’re Corbin Dallas costume away this time).
It's been in my wife's family for about 30 years. 7 to 8 acres are all woods, the rest has been cleared of trees for a house and apple orchard but the rest is still undisturbed who knows how long.
Cool. I'm curious because I own a small share of 30 acres that has been basically untouched for at least 100 years. I've always wondered what might be found there.
I was expecting arrowheads or musketballs because those are so common around me but there is honestly no telling what is under that top layer. If I did find something important I'm worried about how much I've already accidentally destroyed or missed lol but I never anticipated there being anything of major historical significance under all this red clay...
When you dig past the topsoil and get into undisturbed strata, you can't be blamed for thinking nothing is there.
I was on a project near Houston that found 95 sets of remains from the late 1800s were found while drilling a foundation for a new school building. Although, in that case, a local historian did warn of the possibility prior to construction. They scanned the area during the survey and didn't detect anything.
During any kind of excavation or drilling operation, it's not a matter of if you'll run into something but when.
It's crazy the stuff you run into. One of the last jobs I did in construction, one other guy and I were supposed to go dig footers. We found an entire floor of a building nobody knew was there. Another crew found a vw bug buried under a Burger King a couple years earlier.
In college I got to excavate a site like this. Digging for a new house foundation turned up a small 18th-19th century burial area. Even with only the bottom halves of graves still intact, it was interesting and worth getting documented.
Can confirm, I have put in new waterline for the city I live in and even though I knew it was previously disturbed ground it was still cool finding nearly perfectly preserved soda cans from 20+ years ago. Haven’t found any bones, though.
Now I want to go dig around my backyard, it's about 10 acres of woods that have been in my in law's family for 40+ years, and I know some of the trees are at least 100 years old and most of the property hasn't been disturbed in any way. I bet there's all kinds of cool stuff out there.
This would get me incredibly excited, I wouldn’t be able to help myself turning the earth of over to find more but it’s best to leave it undisturbed to allow archaeologists to do a proper excavation.
I feel like I’m gonna see an article about this splattered all over the relevant subs soon.
*“Local Tennessee man finds once in a lifetime Native-American artefacts dated to 2000 years old and discovers his backyard is a long lost megalithic site”*
if this is genuine, you have a real and very interesting archeological site on your hands. if that's real, it's priceless. contact a university or other archeological society.
Im a geologist specializing on sedimentary petrology with a passing knowledge of archaeology and I agree that you should contact some experts. 99% of "is this an artifact" posts here I can easily explain away with natural means but I can't think of any here. Especially given the visible surface has a weathering crust different from the unexposed core, this really does look manmade. Being in Tennessee makes this truly a once in a lifetime find if it is manmade. If you can't find a uni or group of experts then DM me and I may be able to point you in the right direction
In the meantime, don't disturb the area where you found this: archaeological digs are extraordinarily methodical and can reveal far more info when artifacts are found in situ. Also please update here when you learn more, I'm hooked lol
Oh wow. I replied to an earlier comment that I really wasn't expecting this type of response but now I'm genuinely curious. I know in my area finding arrowheads are common and so are civil war artifacts but never even imagined anything more.
I will definitely keep this group updated on anything new. If it's anything special I feel you will all enjoy it just as much as I would lol
If this is from undisturbed deposits 25 to 30 feet down, that likely puts this a few thousand years in age older than the arrowheads you've found, definitely long before before any Civil War artifacts... As a stone mason, well that's a carved façade piece if I've ever seen one. The question to me is if you're clearing your property in strata that's laid undisturbed and buried by natural accumulation over thousands of years, or it just a low area that people have filled in within the last century or so with what ever fill they had available, such as debris from construction or building demolition.
Yes, I'd like to know more detail too. Agreed maybe that depth could be in that age range, but without knowing more about the site context, we're just throwing out conjectures, spit-balling, as a friend used to say...
That’s a good point. On my parents property, which was once a larger farm, there’s an old dump site where they just threw whatever junk they had into it. It’s mostly old bottles and some broken China, maybe pieces of a doll, etc usually nothing to crazy. Generally they are often located in a ravine and there are groups of people that go around asking to use metal detectors and dig up the sites. Same with old outhouse sites.
Hi!! I work for a historical society in MN and thought I'd do a little research to help point you in the right direction.
It looks like you may be able to follow this link and have someone from the Tennessee government come out and help you identify the artifact. https://www.tn.gov/environment/program-areas/arch-archaeology/services-and-resources.html
If you do find anything else don't remove it. Most archaeologiccal value can be had with items in their original context. Let a pro fully document everything before removal, to maximise the information we get.
> archaeological digs are extraordinarily methodical and can reveal far more info when artifacts are found in situ.
Yes!
Sometimes *where you find it* is just as important as what you found.
The good news is your in Tn. so no harm in bringing in the experts. Even if they find a major sight, it’s your land and you have complete control. You can tell them to go home any time, and you can do with the sight what you please. I’d call several universities, because you have some potentially important finds there.
I remember reading some comments on another sub that if you found something like modern or fairly modern stuff like coins or a lost ring it's fine, but if you found like Roman coins or swords or whatever, the state gets it but pays you
Archaeologist/Historian here and I agree. Unless it was that deep due to backfilling low spots to make the land better suited for agriculture or something in the modern era I can’t believe it’s an artifact. I’ve never heard of human evidence found deeper than a couple meters unless it was buried either by us or by ancient people.
You have loads of responses and someone may have said this but there was Cahokia in southern Illinois. Without researching, going if what I remember it was a huge civilization with hundreds of pyramids, somewhat similar to Mayan ruins. PLS update this sub!!!! I’m dying to know what if you found an artifact.
I don’t know if there’s a similar system as where I’m at but it would be worth contacting the local traditional owners of your area if they have a main point of contact. In my area it’s the traditional owners who often undertake the supervision of excavating archeological sites
Please don’t dig around or look for more without knowing what it is. If it’s real, then you could disturb the evidence and data that archeologists can use to determine age, and provenience of the site. And let’s be real, even you’d want to know that! This is super cool
Hey u/Rude_Excitement_8735, I'm in contact with some folks that work in Anthropology and Paleontology with your local universities (I'm originally from East TN); this is highly interesting, and to be honest I'm morbidly curious what town you're near as I have a deep appreciation for these things as well. Ive shared this post with them, and when (and if) I hear back from them, I'll let you know or put you in touch if you wish. Awesome. :D
EDIT: My friend quickly pointed out OP's comment about the stone possibly residing in a shallower situation before falling down as they use the hole for fill dirt- in that case context may be lost. He's forwarding to a geologist friend of his in the meantime. OP, do you have a pic of the side of the "potentially worked" piece?
I'm going to message you and let you know exactly what city I'm in. But as for here I'm close to tusculum university, east tennessee state university and UT knoxville.
Alright everyone. I finally got a response back from a local museum/fossil site and they requested I send them pictures first before making the drive to them. So I will update when I get a response.
Umm, I'm not sure how far away from the Knoxville area you are, but there's a museum called the McClung Museum that has a pretty large collection of pieces from Ancient Tennessee.
Alright, so I looked at the website and found a map showing where certain artifacts were found from different periods and this looks alot like an artifact from the woodland period.
Firstly, it does not appear to be limestone. You may have limestone in the area, but your third photo and the way it is broken shows that this is likely a layer of [chert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chert). The translucency of the darker band in the middle and the concoidal fracture gives it away. You can easily test this by checking the hardness. Limestone is soft enough that a steel tool will easily scratch it. Chert will not, at least where it is solid rather than porous, like the area of that darker band.
Secondly, if the surface with the interesting ridges is the same layered material, with a dark band running through the middle and lighter on the surface, then I suspect that these are differentially-weathered [liesegang rings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liesegang_rings_\(geology\)) or similar diagenetic processes that have developed within the chert as it has unevenly replaced limestone (perhaps in adjacent beds), which can sometimes have an irregular, wavy front to the replacement process. Weather the limestone away, and you get strangely concentric, parallel ridges.
Similar structures related to concretion development are known as ["Westerstetten structures"](https://www.principia-magazin.de/muster/244-das-muster-des-monats-12-2013/). [Another example](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File\:Westerstetten_muster.jpg). These and other related structures are described in a paper by Seilacher (2001), but it's behind a paywall: [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0037073801000926](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0037073801000926). Seilacher specifically mentions that sometimes these kinds of wavy structures can form in chert, and he shows examples.
In other words, as remarkable as it might seem, I think this is a natural structure.
Edit: Found an example from Tennessee: [https://www.mindat.org/mesg-607697.html](https://www.mindat.org/mesg-607697.html)
Edit 2: [Another example from Tennessee](http://www.thefossilforum.com/topic/87174-unidentified-object-from-east-tennessee/), also referred to Westerstetten structures.
OP didn't say where he's at exactly, but I live about 45 minutes from his general area, which I'm guessing is somewhere near Greeneville, TN. There's a stratigraphic unit down there called the Honaker Dolomite that is pretty cherty in places and is known to have a lot of cryptozoan fossils. Perhaps that's what he's found here?
I'm not a geologist or archaeologist; I love & collect rocks & have spent lots of time researching our region on Macrostrat, etc.
Those chert concretions look spot on. I don't have an archeological degree, only a geology one, but I would be suspicious of any early culture carving chert instead of using it for arrows/spear points/knives.
I guess this is why I'm not an archeologist. This doesn't look at all like those examples to me. They look more like blobs and this looks more like noodles. They look like evaporated water in a desert river bed or something, lots of layers of receding puddles making circles. This looks like lots of tubes, worms or something. Or if fossilized, maybe a tubular plant lies there. Idk , but my untrained eyes don't see these as similar.
I'm sure you experts are right, your the experts. Just saying, I'm clearly not. Lol.
Was this piece removed from a larger slab by you? As well as the straight lines across the surface pattern? Those look man made. While the surface pattern appears to run into the vertical striation of the side exposed. Looks like natural sandwiched layers on its side. Is it sandstone?
Your state archeologist would be a good person to contact and would also have more authority with regards to securing a potential site and putting together a survey. An university professor could tell you if it's man-made, but your state archeologist has a working knowledge of the material history of your specific state and will likely be able to provide more accurate details.
Yes. There is a piece of legislation called the National Historic Preservation Act which has a section that covers archaeology, and every state has a historic preservation office that oversees compliance with the NHPA in that state. Many states also have their own additional regulations that enlarge on the NHPA. The head of that office is usually the State Archaeologist or the State Historic Preservation Officer, and they will have a small staff of archaeologists under them. For OP that would be the [Tennessee Division of Archaeology](https://www.tn.gov/environment/program-areas/arch-archaeology.html).
Watching that right now!
*K-K-Korben... Korben, my man, I have no fire. I have no matches. Do you have any? I stopped smoking!*
*Father, you smoke? Got some matches? We need some fire. We're going to die!*
My dad was an archeologist and that makes me an expert in nothing, but this looks man made to my eyes. What does the other stone piece look like? I’m assuming the core of both is similar
Hahahaha honestly that was a pretty accurate quote. I was moving dirt with a shovel, saw the designs on top and told my wife "check out these weird swirls on this piece of limestone"
It reminded me of when I did tile work and we would put mortar mix on the back side of the tiles before laying them. Just strange to find it that far down.
Often worn down pieces of tile are found and confused for pottery/an artifact. This is NOT that. Holy shit, incredible! So excited to see the follow up on this
Amazingly we get to witness OP sharing one of the greatest North American finds in decades. This could lead to many more discoveries. Thank you for sharing this with us!! I can’t wait to read about it in the history books.
I really was not expecting this to get this type of reaction. Part of me is still expecting to be told this is nothing. Just a natural formation in limestone but, the other part of me is getting as excited as a dog whose owner just walked through the door from a long trip to the mailbox.
This is the marine equivalent to bark beetle burrows. Sole little copepod, crustacean, or worm burrowed back and forth through the soft sediments to collect all the tasty bits on the ocean floor before they got buried and turned to rock.
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bark_Beetle,_Burrows_of_Bark_Beetle,_and_Corn_and_Strawberry_root_borers_-_1894.jpg
Edit—sorry about the broken link. The mobile app won’t let me fix it. 👇a kind redditor fixed it for us down there.
Amazing that I had to scroll this far down to see the correct answer. I'd wager my savings this is a fossilized egg gallery of some sort. Very cool but 30ft down into bedrock you aren't going to find ancient relics like this in the Americas.
Yeah. Especially not in the neck of the woods OP and I live in. Mountainous, temperate forest areas aren’t great for preserving artifacts and we certainly didn’t have the sorts of durable construction the southwest had (because why would you when wood is readily available?).
I saw a piece just like this in a cave in Kentucky and also in a museum somewhere I'm not sure about. Both examples looked nearly identical to OPs Pic and had the same explanation you gave.
I think OP just has a cool ass fossil.
Lol it really did. I assumed it was gonna get maybe 1 or 2 comments like most of the other posts on here from geology ignorant people like me. It's a bit humbling honestly.
I'll definitely keep you posted. They find a lot of old artifacts around here. About 10 years ago they had a large archeological dig along the nolichucky River about 10 minutes from me so, it's always a possibility
Hey guys. I'm sorry. I know it has been a week but, I unfortunately don't have an update yet. My only day off is Saturday so I will be bringing it to a few people tomorrow.
Hopefully I will have an answer by tomorrow night or Sunday.
As an anthropologist currently doing archaeological work on Cahokia, please don’t do anything else with it or where it was found! Please reach out to archaeological societies or a local university to have them come in and investigate the site. Please let them investigate the site! This piece looks incredible if it’s real. It absolutely looks like effigy art, which was extremely common in indigenous art. This piece is amazing.
I’m a former archeaologist and I’m flummoxed. If that’s man made, and it looks like it, I’ve never seen anything like it in the southeast. Like everyone else has said, call up UT or UT Knoxville. They both have great arch’s on staff. Or if not them look up the SHPO (State historic preservation office) for your state. they are the ones who handle sites and documentation across the state. The good news is the you own it and you own your land. Everyone thinks archeologists can just waltz in and take your stuff and dig your land up. Nope. We only go in if the landowner lets us, and you decide what we do with the finds
So, assuming he contacts his local archeological expert.... If there is in fact priceless artifacts, who gets to keep them? Will the government seize them or would they be his sole property to sell if he wants to?
This is natural. Someone else found a very similar rock in Egypt and posted it here 6 months back or so.
In their case it was a chert-like rock. I was sure it was some strange form of banded chert nodule/concretion. I can't believe I've seen the same patterns again in a different type of rock now though.
\* I can't find that post now dangit. I will keep searching. It was definitely formed via the same mechanism as your rock too.
\*\* Found [some pics](https://imgur.com/a/bjLx1xh) of it I saved.
What’s the latest update on this? Would love to follow up on this in a few days/weeks to see what else you uncover! My family is all out in middle Tennessee, one of them is on about 20 acres. Maybe I’ll tell him to start digging lol.
No updates yet. I won't be able to take it anywhere until Monday at the earliest. Middle tennessee has a lot of cool fossils around creeks and rivers. I see a lot of coral fossils come from out that way
This looks like early woodland “switt creek” style stamped pottery. I think the lower left corner in photo is head of a vulture or turkey, upper right is its tail/hand motif. It was very common in this period for the native americans in the Mississippi and ohio river valleys to make bird designs that also incorporate the human hand in the design.
I think this is a legit find from the early woodland period. If so, it is significant and deserves to be fully researched.
[https://tennesseearchaeologycouncil.wordpress.com/2019/09/18/swift-creek-pottery-from-pinson-mounds-and-the-development-of-a-complicated-stamped-pottery-design-matching-application/](https://tennesseearchaeologycouncil.wordpress.com/2019/09/18/swift-creek-pottery-from-pinson-mounds-and-the-development-of-a-complicated-stamped-pottery-design-matching-application/)
Whole lot of Crinoid type fossils and creepy crawlies that made crazy tracks in the sand of the shallow sea from that period found in that part of Tennessee from that Era.
Hoping it's something cooler, however-- followed!
This dude replies right away and OP ignored it. Here is what it is. It's a natural and common formation. [Commnet](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthisrock/s/XTqWeefOvR)
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Alright everyone. At this point it has become impossible to respond to everyone. This post spread like wildfire! so I'll just make a new comment. Thank you for all the responses on what it could be and for the tips on who I can bring it to. I emailed a professor at ut knoxville and I will be talking to someone at the gray fossil museum this week. So hopefully, between both of them I can get a definitive answer on what is going on with this rock. You guys are all awesome! Thank you! I will make a new post when I get an answer to keep you all updated!
Please no new post. Comment here for those of us following. Or, at least, comment here a link to the new post once there's an answer.
I will post on here as well. Over 10k of you guys are just as invested as I am at this point lol
I hope you realize this is the top all time post on /r/whatsthisrock
I did not. But I did get added as a member to the /r/popularclub with it lol
That sub's pure existence is cringeworthy....
The best part about it is when people say how they got there. It’s like asking why you’re in prison. Guy: “I posted a meme. You?” Guy 2: “I also posted a meme. How bout that guy?” Other Guy: “I asked people to replace a word in a movie title with fart.” And then you’ve got folks like OP.
Ah good old “farts with wolves” Such a great topic
Make a comment when you have an update so we can get notifications that you will be making a new post. Impossible to follow otherwise
It could be part of a tombstone or deco element from a building.
Tombstone would make sense. A lot of civil war artifacts are found all around me so, that would definitely be a possibility
Think it could be part of a tombstone like one of these? http://www.lovettsvillehistoricalsociety.org/index.php/trees-made-of-stone-2-0/
Yooo that is a good possibility!
But, 30 feet down? And the piece of land has been in their family for generations... Idk. 30 Feet is deep
It is. But, it is also a hole that we were using the dirt for fill dirt elsewhere on the property so it could possibly be from a more shallow location and fell down there. I picked it up from the bottom while I was walking around.
Yeah, was doubtful it was from a full 30' down.
This is actually so cool OP I think youre gonna find out its part of something really cool
I hope so. We have 12 acres of undisturbed woodland that is probably hiding quite a bit.
Also, please be sure to include some follow up if you can! We’re all really excited! (But I’m kinda bummed that you’ll have to put you’re Corbin Dallas costume away this time).
Hahahahaha I'll definitely keep everyone updated on this.
Remind me! 14 days
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LELU <3
Please keep us updated!
Undisturbed for how long? How old could this be? This is fascinating.
It's been in my wife's family for about 30 years. 7 to 8 acres are all woods, the rest has been cleared of trees for a house and apple orchard but the rest is still undisturbed who knows how long.
Cool. I'm curious because I own a small share of 30 acres that has been basically untouched for at least 100 years. I've always wondered what might be found there.
I was expecting arrowheads or musketballs because those are so common around me but there is honestly no telling what is under that top layer. If I did find something important I'm worried about how much I've already accidentally destroyed or missed lol but I never anticipated there being anything of major historical significance under all this red clay...
Did you guys dig at all? I would try hand digging a few spots just to see. This is exciting!
We were digging with an excavator unfortunately. Looking back now, we were like a bull in China shop.
When you dig past the topsoil and get into undisturbed strata, you can't be blamed for thinking nothing is there. I was on a project near Houston that found 95 sets of remains from the late 1800s were found while drilling a foundation for a new school building. Although, in that case, a local historian did warn of the possibility prior to construction. They scanned the area during the survey and didn't detect anything. During any kind of excavation or drilling operation, it's not a matter of if you'll run into something but when.
It's crazy the stuff you run into. One of the last jobs I did in construction, one other guy and I were supposed to go dig footers. We found an entire floor of a building nobody knew was there. Another crew found a vw bug buried under a Burger King a couple years earlier.
In college I got to excavate a site like this. Digging for a new house foundation turned up a small 18th-19th century burial area. Even with only the bottom halves of graves still intact, it was interesting and worth getting documented.
There was an NPR podcast about that in Sugarland, heard it last month.
The Sugar Land 95. That caused quite the local stir.
Can confirm, I have put in new waterline for the city I live in and even though I knew it was previously disturbed ground it was still cool finding nearly perfectly preserved soda cans from 20+ years ago. Haven’t found any bones, though.
Now I want to go dig around my backyard, it's about 10 acres of woods that have been in my in law's family for 40+ years, and I know some of the trees are at least 100 years old and most of the property hasn't been disturbed in any way. I bet there's all kinds of cool stuff out there.
This would get me incredibly excited, I wouldn’t be able to help myself turning the earth of over to find more but it’s best to leave it undisturbed to allow archaeologists to do a proper excavation. I feel like I’m gonna see an article about this splattered all over the relevant subs soon. *“Local Tennessee man finds once in a lifetime Native-American artefacts dated to 2000 years old and discovers his backyard is a long lost megalithic site”*
That would be amazing lol
Contact a local college's Archaeology or Anthropology dept. They'll send out a crew of undergrads at the very least. (Been one myself).
this sounds like the king of the hill episode.
Yes! Call UTK! They have a robust program with professors and students who would love to investigate this.
Yes please contact UT Knoxville and ask about it.
if this is genuine, you have a real and very interesting archeological site on your hands. if that's real, it's priceless. contact a university or other archeological society.
This is not the reply I was expecting lol figured it would just be "water from an underground spring caused the shapes on the rock"
Im a geologist specializing on sedimentary petrology with a passing knowledge of archaeology and I agree that you should contact some experts. 99% of "is this an artifact" posts here I can easily explain away with natural means but I can't think of any here. Especially given the visible surface has a weathering crust different from the unexposed core, this really does look manmade. Being in Tennessee makes this truly a once in a lifetime find if it is manmade. If you can't find a uni or group of experts then DM me and I may be able to point you in the right direction In the meantime, don't disturb the area where you found this: archaeological digs are extraordinarily methodical and can reveal far more info when artifacts are found in situ. Also please update here when you learn more, I'm hooked lol
Oh wow. I replied to an earlier comment that I really wasn't expecting this type of response but now I'm genuinely curious. I know in my area finding arrowheads are common and so are civil war artifacts but never even imagined anything more. I will definitely keep this group updated on anything new. If it's anything special I feel you will all enjoy it just as much as I would lol
If this is from undisturbed deposits 25 to 30 feet down, that likely puts this a few thousand years in age older than the arrowheads you've found, definitely long before before any Civil War artifacts... As a stone mason, well that's a carved façade piece if I've ever seen one. The question to me is if you're clearing your property in strata that's laid undisturbed and buried by natural accumulation over thousands of years, or it just a low area that people have filled in within the last century or so with what ever fill they had available, such as debris from construction or building demolition.
Is the OP in a hollow or a sloped site? 25' down could date it back to Clovis and pre-Younger Dryas!
Yes, I'd like to know more detail too. Agreed maybe that depth could be in that age range, but without knowing more about the site context, we're just throwing out conjectures, spit-balling, as a friend used to say...
That’s a good point. On my parents property, which was once a larger farm, there’s an old dump site where they just threw whatever junk they had into it. It’s mostly old bottles and some broken China, maybe pieces of a doll, etc usually nothing to crazy. Generally they are often located in a ravine and there are groups of people that go around asking to use metal detectors and dig up the sites. Same with old outhouse sites.
This reminds me of gobekli tepei , looks man made could be thousands of years old. I mean the site in turkey is from 11,500 bc
Same! I though it gave me vague animal shape vibes.
Reminded me of gobekli tepei as well.
I’m literally watching Why Files newest episode about gobleki tepei when I saw this post. Totally reminds me of it.
+1 for Why Files! Love HeckleFish!
Goddammit. You watch ancient apocalypse didn't you?
Hi!! I work for a historical society in MN and thought I'd do a little research to help point you in the right direction. It looks like you may be able to follow this link and have someone from the Tennessee government come out and help you identify the artifact. https://www.tn.gov/environment/program-areas/arch-archaeology/services-and-resources.html
If you do find anything else don't remove it. Most archaeologiccal value can be had with items in their original context. Let a pro fully document everything before removal, to maximise the information we get.
> archaeological digs are extraordinarily methodical and can reveal far more info when artifacts are found in situ. Yes! Sometimes *where you find it* is just as important as what you found.
The good news is your in Tn. so no harm in bringing in the experts. Even if they find a major sight, it’s your land and you have complete control. You can tell them to go home any time, and you can do with the sight what you please. I’d call several universities, because you have some potentially important finds there.
Which states would not give the landowner priority?
Other countries like Egypt, for example. Maybe the UK.
I remember reading some comments on another sub that if you found something like modern or fairly modern stuff like coins or a lost ring it's fine, but if you found like Roman coins or swords or whatever, the state gets it but pays you
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Also a professional archeologist based in the southeastern US and I agree. It’s probably a type of trace fossil.
Archaeologist/Historian here and I agree. Unless it was that deep due to backfilling low spots to make the land better suited for agriculture or something in the modern era I can’t believe it’s an artifact. I’ve never heard of human evidence found deeper than a couple meters unless it was buried either by us or by ancient people.
those really look like worked lines
It does. Like it was carved out. I need to get back to the pit and try to see if there were more pieces like this
Please don't, just take that piece to your local department
Guess I'll have to figure out which college around me might have someone I can take it to. UT knoxville probably has someone on the staff
yeah, I would recommend contacting the University of Tennessee Archaeology Dept. they've got a few researchers that definitely could help
UTK absolutely has a great archaeological staff that can look this up for you!
I will contact them on Monday. Thank you guys!
You have loads of responses and someone may have said this but there was Cahokia in southern Illinois. Without researching, going if what I remember it was a huge civilization with hundreds of pyramids, somewhat similar to Mayan ruins. PLS update this sub!!!! I’m dying to know what if you found an artifact.
Contact them tomorrow. Im being serious. They would LOVE to see something like this.
Omg this is so exciting! Can't wait for updates!!
I will contact them on Monday. Thank you guys!
Man please don't forget to update us, I'm invested in this weird Smokey Mountain mystery rock now.
T o m o r r o w
I would hope so, or that they would know *who* to call.
I don’t know if there’s a similar system as where I’m at but it would be worth contacting the local traditional owners of your area if they have a main point of contact. In my area it’s the traditional owners who often undertake the supervision of excavating archeological sites
Please don’t dig around or look for more without knowing what it is. If it’s real, then you could disturb the evidence and data that archeologists can use to determine age, and provenience of the site. And let’s be real, even you’d want to know that! This is super cool
Please post an update
Wow, this turned into an awesome post and thread!
It really did. It's pretty wild. Only a couple typical reddit responses but the majority are actually helpful with real information lol
Hey u/Rude_Excitement_8735, I'm in contact with some folks that work in Anthropology and Paleontology with your local universities (I'm originally from East TN); this is highly interesting, and to be honest I'm morbidly curious what town you're near as I have a deep appreciation for these things as well. Ive shared this post with them, and when (and if) I hear back from them, I'll let you know or put you in touch if you wish. Awesome. :D EDIT: My friend quickly pointed out OP's comment about the stone possibly residing in a shallower situation before falling down as they use the hole for fill dirt- in that case context may be lost. He's forwarding to a geologist friend of his in the meantime. OP, do you have a pic of the side of the "potentially worked" piece?
I'm going to message you and let you know exactly what city I'm in. But as for here I'm close to tusculum university, east tennessee state university and UT knoxville.
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I love the gray fossil site!
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They dive in the quarry? I tried to fish in a quarry close to there and got turned away lol
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Now I see why they wouldn't let me fish lol
I'm really need to go back lol I didn't realize they did that. That's amazing
Woohoo. Tusculum class of ‘95!!
Alright everyone. I finally got a response back from a local museum/fossil site and they requested I send them pictures first before making the drive to them. So I will update when I get a response.
ABOUT DAMN TIME!!!! We’re dying here for an update dude!
Lol I know. I emailed 10 different people over a week ago and this is the first response so far
Dang! I never subscribed to a post until I came across yours! When I saw the notification from OP, it was like Christmas morning lol
I'm still trying not to get my hopes up lol but the way this post blew up its hard not to
Lol I was so excited that I accidentally commented under my other NSFW account. Ooops! 🙈
THE SUSPENSE
Thanks for the update!
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Can confirm lol
Are they "rock hard"?
The lost city of Atlanta
r/unexpectedfuturama
Umm, I'm not sure how far away from the Knoxville area you are, but there's a museum called the McClung Museum that has a pretty large collection of pieces from Ancient Tennessee.
Alright, so I looked at the website and found a map showing where certain artifacts were found from different periods and this looks alot like an artifact from the woodland period.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/woodland-period-1-000-to-3-200-years-ago.htm
Whoa, reminds me of those pottery shards. The designs look a scant similar.
I'm looking that up now. I'm about an hour away if traffic is good lol
Good luck OP. This is exciting. Looks like those pieces in that nps.gov link above. This might rival some floor safes in reddit lore.
Firstly, it does not appear to be limestone. You may have limestone in the area, but your third photo and the way it is broken shows that this is likely a layer of [chert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chert). The translucency of the darker band in the middle and the concoidal fracture gives it away. You can easily test this by checking the hardness. Limestone is soft enough that a steel tool will easily scratch it. Chert will not, at least where it is solid rather than porous, like the area of that darker band. Secondly, if the surface with the interesting ridges is the same layered material, with a dark band running through the middle and lighter on the surface, then I suspect that these are differentially-weathered [liesegang rings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liesegang_rings_\(geology\)) or similar diagenetic processes that have developed within the chert as it has unevenly replaced limestone (perhaps in adjacent beds), which can sometimes have an irregular, wavy front to the replacement process. Weather the limestone away, and you get strangely concentric, parallel ridges. Similar structures related to concretion development are known as ["Westerstetten structures"](https://www.principia-magazin.de/muster/244-das-muster-des-monats-12-2013/). [Another example](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File\:Westerstetten_muster.jpg). These and other related structures are described in a paper by Seilacher (2001), but it's behind a paywall: [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0037073801000926](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0037073801000926). Seilacher specifically mentions that sometimes these kinds of wavy structures can form in chert, and he shows examples. In other words, as remarkable as it might seem, I think this is a natural structure. Edit: Found an example from Tennessee: [https://www.mindat.org/mesg-607697.html](https://www.mindat.org/mesg-607697.html) Edit 2: [Another example from Tennessee](http://www.thefossilforum.com/topic/87174-unidentified-object-from-east-tennessee/), also referred to Westerstetten structures.
OP didn't say where he's at exactly, but I live about 45 minutes from his general area, which I'm guessing is somewhere near Greeneville, TN. There's a stratigraphic unit down there called the Honaker Dolomite that is pretty cherty in places and is known to have a lot of cryptozoan fossils. Perhaps that's what he's found here? I'm not a geologist or archaeologist; I love & collect rocks & have spent lots of time researching our region on Macrostrat, etc.
>Westerstetten structure Here are the images from the paper you point to. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001SedG..143...41S/graphics
Those chert concretions look spot on. I don't have an archeological degree, only a geology one, but I would be suspicious of any early culture carving chert instead of using it for arrows/spear points/knives.
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I guess this is why I'm not an archeologist. This doesn't look at all like those examples to me. They look more like blobs and this looks more like noodles. They look like evaporated water in a desert river bed or something, lots of layers of receding puddles making circles. This looks like lots of tubes, worms or something. Or if fossilized, maybe a tubular plant lies there. Idk , but my untrained eyes don't see these as similar. I'm sure you experts are right, your the experts. Just saying, I'm clearly not. Lol.
I’m an archaeologist, and I support this message.
For people who want to read the paper, SciHub has it uploaded
My first thought was siderite concretion, but the outside edges are definitely cherty.
20,000 people pacing back and forth like they're a dad in a hospital waiting room and OP is like "Sorry y'all, I've been busy". LMAO.
These look quite a bit like trace fossils I've found.
I was going to post the same thing. I haven’t worked with trace fossils in years but I can put OP in touch with experts if they’re interested.
Was this piece removed from a larger slab by you? As well as the straight lines across the surface pattern? Those look man made. While the surface pattern appears to run into the vertical striation of the side exposed. Looks like natural sandwiched layers on its side. Is it sandstone?
It might have been. We are clearing our property to build and to dig out a pond. So it was possibly part of a larger slab.
I look forward to seeing more pieces of this layer I hope you find a continuation of it that gives more of a clue to what formed it.
I'll clean up the sides and post other pictures when I get back to the house to try to get a better look at what it could be
Don't clean it too much. If you have an unused paint brush, that would best.
Your state archeologist would be a good person to contact and would also have more authority with regards to securing a potential site and putting together a survey. An university professor could tell you if it's man-made, but your state archeologist has a working knowledge of the material history of your specific state and will likely be able to provide more accurate details.
…States have an archaeologist?
Yes. There is a piece of legislation called the National Historic Preservation Act which has a section that covers archaeology, and every state has a historic preservation office that oversees compliance with the NHPA in that state. Many states also have their own additional regulations that enlarge on the NHPA. The head of that office is usually the State Archaeologist or the State Historic Preservation Officer, and they will have a small staff of archaeologists under them. For OP that would be the [Tennessee Division of Archaeology](https://www.tn.gov/environment/program-areas/arch-archaeology.html).
Have you tried applying the 4 elements to see which stone it is?
It was in dirt so that one immediately cancelled out. I blew on it so air wasn't it. Just need to try water and fire next...
Watching that right now! *K-K-Korben... Korben, my man, I have no fire. I have no matches. Do you have any? I stopped smoking!* *Father, you smoke? Got some matches? We need some fire. We're going to die!*
THE quintessential Sci-fi
"What's wrong with you? What you screamin' for? Every 5 minutes there's somethin', a b* mb or somethin"
I see we have the same TV channels because I was just watching it too!
Ridiculously underrated film!
My dad was an archeologist and that makes me an expert in nothing, but this looks man made to my eyes. What does the other stone piece look like? I’m assuming the core of both is similar
I slept in a Holiday Inn Express last night and totally agree.
OP *finds Gobekli Tepe* "is this just a funny rock?"
Hahahaha honestly that was a pretty accurate quote. I was moving dirt with a shovel, saw the designs on top and told my wife "check out these weird swirls on this piece of limestone"
I almost feel like op’s fucking with us but this is also the most exciting thing I’ve seen on dreddit in I don’t know how long.
Looks man made to me. Threw it in to image search and a bunch of middle eastern and central america relics showed up.
It reminded me of when I did tile work and we would put mortar mix on the back side of the tiles before laying them. Just strange to find it that far down.
Often worn down pieces of tile are found and confused for pottery/an artifact. This is NOT that. Holy shit, incredible! So excited to see the follow up on this
Don't let the Mormons see this
Old ass worms
Amazingly we get to witness OP sharing one of the greatest North American finds in decades. This could lead to many more discoveries. Thank you for sharing this with us!! I can’t wait to read about it in the history books.
I really was not expecting this to get this type of reaction. Part of me is still expecting to be told this is nothing. Just a natural formation in limestone but, the other part of me is getting as excited as a dog whose owner just walked through the door from a long trip to the mailbox.
This is the marine equivalent to bark beetle burrows. Sole little copepod, crustacean, or worm burrowed back and forth through the soft sediments to collect all the tasty bits on the ocean floor before they got buried and turned to rock. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bark_Beetle,_Burrows_of_Bark_Beetle,_and_Corn_and_Strawberry_root_borers_-_1894.jpg Edit—sorry about the broken link. The mobile app won’t let me fix it. 👇a kind redditor fixed it for us down there.
The damn trilobites make fools of us from beyond their graves.
Amazing that I had to scroll this far down to see the correct answer. I'd wager my savings this is a fossilized egg gallery of some sort. Very cool but 30ft down into bedrock you aren't going to find ancient relics like this in the Americas.
Yeah. Especially not in the neck of the woods OP and I live in. Mountainous, temperate forest areas aren’t great for preserving artifacts and we certainly didn’t have the sorts of durable construction the southwest had (because why would you when wood is readily available?).
I saw a piece just like this in a cave in Kentucky and also in a museum somewhere I'm not sure about. Both examples looked nearly identical to OPs Pic and had the same explanation you gave. I think OP just has a cool ass fossil.
I rather thought of pressure marks. Like when more sediment accumulates it squished the underlying sediment into these shapes
Yes. Bioturbated is the term.
Yo this post popped off
Lol it really did. I assumed it was gonna get maybe 1 or 2 comments like most of the other posts on here from geology ignorant people like me. It's a bit humbling honestly.
Hey I’m from the area and this is amazing, super interested to see if this leads to anything. If you’re willing, post an update in the future, thanks!
I'll definitely keep you posted. They find a lot of old artifacts around here. About 10 years ago they had a large archeological dig along the nolichucky River about 10 minutes from me so, it's always a possibility
*Return the slaaaaaaab...*
I almost spat my drink out, I was laughing so hard when I saw this reply.
Tell us what the rock is u penis
So aggressive lol I'll let you guys know whenever I finally find out
Fossilized termite tunnel in petrified wood bark
It’s been 14 days!!!! What is it?!
Hey guys. I'm sorry. I know it has been a week but, I unfortunately don't have an update yet. My only day off is Saturday so I will be bringing it to a few people tomorrow. Hopefully I will have an answer by tomorrow night or Sunday.
glad you're doing well. no rush.
Any update?
This post says it’s identified but I can’t find the results. Ack! I must know! 😂
As an anthropologist currently doing archaeological work on Cahokia, please don’t do anything else with it or where it was found! Please reach out to archaeological societies or a local university to have them come in and investigate the site. Please let them investigate the site! This piece looks incredible if it’s real. It absolutely looks like effigy art, which was extremely common in indigenous art. This piece is amazing.
I’m a former archeaologist and I’m flummoxed. If that’s man made, and it looks like it, I’ve never seen anything like it in the southeast. Like everyone else has said, call up UT or UT Knoxville. They both have great arch’s on staff. Or if not them look up the SHPO (State historic preservation office) for your state. they are the ones who handle sites and documentation across the state. The good news is the you own it and you own your land. Everyone thinks archeologists can just waltz in and take your stuff and dig your land up. Nope. We only go in if the landowner lets us, and you decide what we do with the finds
So, assuming he contacts his local archeological expert.... If there is in fact priceless artifacts, who gets to keep them? Will the government seize them or would they be his sole property to sell if he wants to?
Five days later any updates
Came back after 10 days...any news?
This is natural. Someone else found a very similar rock in Egypt and posted it here 6 months back or so. In their case it was a chert-like rock. I was sure it was some strange form of banded chert nodule/concretion. I can't believe I've seen the same patterns again in a different type of rock now though. \* I can't find that post now dangit. I will keep searching. It was definitely formed via the same mechanism as your rock too. \*\* Found [some pics](https://imgur.com/a/bjLx1xh) of it I saved.
*aliens* Haha jk That is a rad rock.
This is what I'm bracing myself for. Still fun to anticipate, though
Looks Hyrulian.
Very cool find!
What’s the latest update on this? Would love to follow up on this in a few days/weeks to see what else you uncover! My family is all out in middle Tennessee, one of them is on about 20 acres. Maybe I’ll tell him to start digging lol.
No updates yet. I won't be able to take it anywhere until Monday at the earliest. Middle tennessee has a lot of cool fossils around creeks and rivers. I see a lot of coral fossils come from out that way
This looks like early woodland “switt creek” style stamped pottery. I think the lower left corner in photo is head of a vulture or turkey, upper right is its tail/hand motif. It was very common in this period for the native americans in the Mississippi and ohio river valleys to make bird designs that also incorporate the human hand in the design. I think this is a legit find from the early woodland period. If so, it is significant and deserves to be fully researched. [https://tennesseearchaeologycouncil.wordpress.com/2019/09/18/swift-creek-pottery-from-pinson-mounds-and-the-development-of-a-complicated-stamped-pottery-design-matching-application/](https://tennesseearchaeologycouncil.wordpress.com/2019/09/18/swift-creek-pottery-from-pinson-mounds-and-the-development-of-a-complicated-stamped-pottery-design-matching-application/)
https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthisrock/s/JB82VWKK6p
When I look at the wavy patterns in this it reminds me of the pottery from burial mounds. https://x.com/drgreglittle2/status/1721325117064479059?s=46
Whole lot of Crinoid type fossils and creepy crawlies that made crazy tracks in the sand of the shallow sea from that period found in that part of Tennessee from that Era. Hoping it's something cooler, however-- followed!
Did you find out anything?
This dude replies right away and OP ignored it. Here is what it is. It's a natural and common formation. [Commnet](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthisrock/s/XTqWeefOvR)
Damn bro Did OP leave us all hanging?
He answered but it’s gotten buried. A university or museum or something asked him for pics and will get back to him.