Archaeologists sometimes have to deal with objects, the origin of which, other than the existence of a time machine, cannot be explained. One of these is a mysterious iron object, often referred to as the Koso "spark plug".
During archaeological excavations, mining operations, and sometimes just by chance in the thickness of the earth, there are objects that baffle not only miners, but also researchers. They are called unidentified fossil objects (NIO).
As a rule, NIOs consist of one or another metal. And the mystery of these objects lies in the fact that they lie in layers of rock that historically coincide with the times when on Earth, in principle, there could not be not only processed, but also simply smelted metal by someone.
Discoveries of this kind give reason to some researchers to believe that in the distant past the level of development of mankind was much higher than we imagine; that in prehistoric times there were highly developed civilizations, which subsequently disappeared without a trace as a result of natural disasters or through human fault. The Koso artifact is one of them.
Mineral like a casket
This strange object was found by three Americans in the mountains located in southern California. In 1961, Mike Mikesell, Wallace Lane and Virginia Maxie decided to take another excursion into the mountains in the Coso region. They quite often collected various stones there, and above all geodes - mineral formations with voids inside. It is in geodes that crystals of semi-precious stones are often found. The young people had a small business - they made jewelry out of stones and sold them in different cities of California.
The X-ray shows that at the top, a metal rod rests against what looks like a small spring. This allowed the item to be attributed to electrical mechanisms.
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They had already managed to collect a certain amount of minerals, when they suddenly stumbled upon something unusual, in appearance resembling a geode. But upon closer inspection, it turned out to be somehow strange. On its cleavage one could see the remains of fossilized mollusks gleaming with mother-of-pearl. Then the geologists explained that these mollusks come from a lake, in which thousands of years ago there was so much water that its level reached the place where young people collected stones.
At home, taking a diamond saw, the friends tried to cut a strange mineral, hoping to find a valuable crystal in it. But it turned out that this is not so easy to do. The geode was so strong that the diamond saw teeth broke down. When the ill-fated formation split into two halves, a strange object appeared to the gaze of the collectors, which did not even remotely resemble a valuable stone.
Stone Age Mechanism
Inside was a rounded white ceramic object, in the center of which was a two-millimeter metal rod that reacted to a magnet. The very same ceramic cylinder was placed inside a hexagon made of rusted copper and some other unknown materials. The searchers noticed other strange features of the stone: in addition to the fact that it was covered with shell fragments, hardened clay and pebbles, two metal objects that did not react to a magnet, very similar to a nail and a washer, were even more surprising.
Virginia Maxie decided to show this find to an archaeologist. The latter, after some research, determined the age of the find - 500 thousand years. However, this specialist hid his name, probably fearing that he would be suspected of insanity.
The only known researcher of the artifact was the scientist Ron Calais. He was allowed to photograph the fossils under normal lighting and under X-rays. It was they who showed that inside the rounded sphere there is a metal rod, which rests against a small spring. And it all looked like some kind of electrical mechanism. But how could he get into the rock layer of the Stone Age?
Adepts of different currents began to flock to the sensational find, like flies to honey. One of them, the editor of the paranormal magazine "INFO Journal" Paul Willis, having studied an X-ray of a mysterious artifact, came to the conclusion that it is "the remains of rusted pieces of metal with threads", noting the similarities with a modern spark plug.
At one time, this item was even exhibited at the Eastern California Independence Museum. But Wallace Lane - one of those who found it - decided to take the exhibit and hid it in his home. He stubbornly refused to show it to others and did not even want to hear anything about selling it. Although there were many who wanted to acquire the artifact. It is said that one of the buyers offered Lane a crazy amount for those times - 25 thousand dollars. But the owner was adamant.
However, after a while, the artifact disappeared somewhere. Since then, no one has seen him.
Numerous attempts to find the strange object were unsuccessful. Many years later, the people who discovered the artifact were even put on the national wanted list, but only Virginia Maxie was found. The elderly woman flatly refused to talk about the find itself and about where it went. By the way, it was the inexplicable disappearance and lack of publications about the artifact that caused a number of articles on this topic, replete with speculation.
Earthly and heavenly versions
So, in the hands of the tireless seekers of truth, only pictures of the geode and the verbal comments of the archaeologist, who determined the age of the find - 500 thousand years, remained. Various scientists began to put forward hypotheses about how he could appear at that time.
Some believed that this item was an unknown product of some technically advanced ancient culture, all traces of which had disappeared. Others have suggested that this is part of the supertenna. It has been suggested that the metal mechanism is an ancient spark plug that was part of some mysterious ancient apparatus created by representatives of an advanced civilization.
It is curious that the editor of INFO Journal, Paul Willis, who was the first to put forward the hypothesis about the spark plug, could not understand what functions the spring performed, because nothing of the kind is used in modern spark plugs. “Perhaps this is a device for communication, a kind of direction finder or some kind of instrument that uses energy, the principles of which we do not know anything about,” said especially exalted seekers. Thus, the artifact was overgrown with hypotheses, one more fantastic than the other.
Since the controversial object is forever lost, you can consider a more earthy version of its origin. Moreover, when the initial research of the Coso artifact was carried out, Virginia Maxie stated that the object is most likely no more than 100 years old. She believed that this is an object that first lay on a muddy bottom, then dried in the sun and eventually took on the form in which it was found.
Studying the origin of the Koso artifact, writer Pierre Stromberg and geologist Paul Heinrich noted that at the beginning of the 20th century, mining was carried out in the Koso mountains, which means that internal combustion engines could be used.
Artifact from Koso and Ford spark plug (right) for comparison
To test their hypothesis, the researchers attempted to identify the item by contacting the sparkling candle collectors society of America. They sent letters and X-ray copies of the artifact to four different candlestick collectors who knew nothing of the find and had never seen the photographs before.
Collectors independently have come to the same conclusion: This is a 1920s Model T spark plug from a Ford Model T, which has probably been modified for use in mining in the Koso Mountains. The deterioration rate of the artifact was almost exactly the same as that of spark plugs of that era.
Thus, the Koso artifact lay in the mountains for no more than 40 years. It turned out that the "spark plug" was not enclosed in a stone, but in a concretion of iron ore. The formation of such an ore kidney was probably faster: the storms blew caustic "mineral dust" from the bottom of the dried lake, and it settled on the nearby hills, where the artifact was found.
However, supporters of the fact that the artifact from Koso is proof of the existence of ancient civilizations are sure that experts are telling lies in order to calm the world. After all, they cannot explain this riddle, and therefore, it is better to declare all this a falsification.
Irina EROFEEVA
