Found this rather unusual stone whilst in Kent last week.
I believe it could be from an ancient game of some sort.
The markings are too regular for a natural occurence.
The base is flatish to maybe keep the stone upright.
Appears to be quartz, but not sure.
It is in a good unweathered condition
I have some pictures at the following address..........


strange stone

Anyone shed some light on the item?


Steve

What a weird and wonderful thing - great find!

Perhaps it could have been used for weighing.

It weighs 16 grams, a fraction over half an ounce.

ooh that does look very interesting! I would take it to a local museum and let them have a look at it, who knows what else could be there!

I'd have to say this looks more like someones been using an electric drill! The holes look fairly fresh, almost white in the photographs (rather than accumulating a patina over time - and we should be thinking prehistoric if anything) and the linear marks look like someone tried to do a pattern with a drill but it just slipped around.
Maybe I'm being too cynical or the photos are misleading?

I must admit, I have seen similar stones before, I tend to go with the game theory, clearly there is discoloration to what appears to be 'white Quartz". Has anyone tried to drill 20 plus marks into a 1cm stone before with an electric drill?

Nice example of a fossil echinoid (sea urchin).

quote:

fossil echinoid

Good call NS42, thanks!

It's a cast and pretty worn but maybe a Conulus albogalerus from the Upper Cretaceous.

Mandy

I agree with the Urchin theory, that was my gut instict as well.

quote:

maybe a Conulus albogalerus from the Upper Cretaceous

Yes, I agree.

Yes a fosilized sea urchin it is, I came across a couple whilst out metal detecting!!! they were on top of a victorian coin, about 10 inches down, possibly used as a boundry marker in days of your?