The mysterious find, which was discovered by the seekers of rare rocks in California (USA) in 1961, gave rise to a lot of controversy and scientific research. In a piece of stone estimated to be about 500,000 years old, the researchers discovered an object that was very similar in design to a modern automobile spark plug …
A 500,000-year-old automotive spark plug?
This artifact can be attributed to "inappropriate", as it was found in a place where it could not be. It became another subject that pointed to the possibility of using modern technologies long before modern man mastered them.
In the case of the Koso artifact, the item was found inside a stone or hardened clay. Those who studied the material in which they found him were never able to accurately establish his breed. Scientists estimate that the material is about 500,000 years old.
Pieces of rock in which the Koso artifact was found.
Discovery history
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The Coso artifact was found on February 13, 1961, while searching for a geode, a stone that Mike Mikesell, Virginia Maxi and Wallace Lane were selling to tourists in one of the gift shops. Then they collected stones in the Olanha, California area, after which they brought them to the store to be sorted and split into pieces.
When one of the stones was split, a cylinder of metal and ceramic was found inside. One of the participants in the events recounted how he had read that archaeologists believe that the geode is about 500,000 years old. Another suggested that the stone may actually be ordinary hardened clay, it also contained objects that were very similar to a nail and a nut.
Photo of the found artifact next to the ruler.
The age of the Koso artifact was set on the belief that the rock in which it was discovered was a geode. The only thorough examination and analysis of the stone in which it was found showed that the stone was too soft to be a geode. Also, its structure lacked quartz crystals, which were usually present in such cases. Some soft materials can wrap around an object quite quickly, but a geode cannot. This makes the estimate of the age of the subject not necessarily incorrect, but with possible errors.
The most interesting were studies of a stone and an object using X-rays. The pictures clearly show that the item is a twisting cylinder at one end and something like a metal cap at the other end.
X-ray of the find.
After this research, the artifact disappeared. The rock seekers who discovered the artifact claimed that they never informed other people about it.
However, even the first studies that scientists managed to do revealed several important discoveries regarding the artifact. It was possible to establish exactly what kind of object is in the stone.
One of the Western skeptics, Pierre Stomberg, showed interest in the find and began to study it in detail. Since the artifact itself mysteriously disappeared, he had to use only the remaining photographs and X-rays as a starting point for his research. After analysis, he suggested that the object could be some kind of analogue of a spark plug, since it was in many ways similar to it in design. Nevertheless, the last detail - something like a screw - presented a problem, since it did not fit into the supposed construct.
Until now, there are many opinions about the Koso artifact, but no one has been able to establish its true nature, since the object itself has not existed for a long time …