Round rock...Is it a rock, artifact or fossil. SOLVED - Moqui ball

[turtlefoot13]

I had part of my property bulldozed for landscaping reasons and was walking the freshly opened ground and found this rock. If it wasn't broken, it would be a sphere. I have seen a lot of strange rocks in the past but nothing like this one. The mark close to the top in the first pic looks like some sort of rock boring beetle got to it. Any ideas will be helpful. While walking the open ground I also found pieces of very old blue glass and pieces of a stoneware type of crock/jug. The hematite that I found a couple of weeks ago was found about 1/4 of a mile from where this rock was found, if that has any bearing. Arrow heads have been found within two hundred yards of where this rock was found plus I have found a couple of fossils in a seasonal creek bed less than one hundred yards of where this rock was found (I am leaving all possibilities open for the time being).

Thanks,
Doug

 

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[fireman7115]

Re: Round rock...Is it a rock, artifact or fossil.

I think Indian artifact. I have heard of those before but can not recall what they are called. They were used for some sort of child's game. I bet if you post it in the arrow head section of this site them boys there can help ya.

 

[turtlefoot13]

Re: Round rock...Is it a rock, artifact or fossil.

Thanks,

I will post it there too.

Doug

 

[BioProfessor]

Re: Round rock...Is it a rock, artifact or fossil.

Are you sure it is a rock?

Daryl

 

[turtlefoot13]

Re: Round rock...Is it a rock, artifact or fossil.

Are you sure it is a rock?

Daryl

As far as I can tell it is stone. I am not sure how to test it so to speak. Is there something that you need me to check on it?

Doug

 

[sseth]

Re: Round rock...Is it a rock, artifact or fossil.

It is an iron concretion.

Commonly referred to as Moqui balls, or moqui marbles, they have been used for centuries by Native Americans as game stones and as shaman healing stones.


The iron oxide concretions exhibit a wide variety of sizes and shapes. Their shape ranges from spheres to discs; buttons; spiked balls; cylindrical hollow pipe-like forms; and other odd shapes. Although many of these concretions are fused together like soap bubbles, many more also occur as isolated concretions, which range in diameter from the size of peas to baseballs. The surface of these spherical concretions can range from being very rough to quite smooth. Some of the concretions are grooved spheres with ridges around their circumference.

They consist of sandstone cemented together by hematite (Fe2O3), and goethite (FeOOH). The iron forming these concretions came from the break down of iron-bearing silicate minerals by weathering to form iron oxide coatings on other grains. During later diagenesis of the Sandstone while deeply buried, reducing fluids, likely hydrocarbons, dissolved these coatings. When the reducing fluids containing dissolved iron mixed with oxidizing groundwater, they and the dissolved iron were oxidized. This caused the iron to precipitate out as hematite and goethite to form the innumerable concretions found in many Sandstones.

Very fun find.

Hope this helps.
sseth

 

[turtlefoot13]

Re: Round rock...Is it a rock, artifact or fossil.

Thank you sseth! I am going to mark this one solved. It makes sense as I have found hematite in the area also.

Doug

 

[sseth]

No problem. Glad I could help.
Sseth