Artifacts In The Rocks Point To Ancient Civilizations

By James Donahue

An interesting article by an R. Randle in the Phenomena website offered a strange theory as to the source of the nails, gold necklaces, tools and other things found embedded in rock and coal deep in the Earth.

Randle suggests that Tubal Cain, the name of the first metalworker as described in the Book of Genesis, was a secret Masonic reference and that there might be some link to Masonic mischief in the discovery of such items.

In making his case, Randle also did a nice job of collecting and cataloging a list of anomalies, many of them known about by this writer. As a service to our readers I will utilize the article to present the collection as Randle perceived it.

Among the oddities is a "bell-shaped vessel" made of zinc and silver" allegedly blown out of a Massachusetts quarry in the mid-19th Century. Randle builds his case from a June 5, 1852 edition of Scientific American, under the headline "A Relic of a By-Gone Age." The relic, made of zinc and silver, was broken into two parts. It measured about four and a quarter inches high, and widened to about six inches at the top. The metal was no more than an eighth of an inch thick throughout. There was silver inlay with "exquisite" carving done by a skilled craftsman.

Randle also tells about a report by Sir David Brewster, from the British Association for the Advancement of Science, of a nail found embedded in solid rock. The report stated that about an inch of the nail was protruding and the rest was lying along the stone and projecting into a layer of ground so it was rusted. The nail was partially embedded in the stone and clearly was not driven into it. Thus the nail was part of the material that congealed into granite and became part of the rock, thus it was manufactured millions of years earlier. Our question is what protected the exposed metal in the nail from complete oxidation before its discovery?

Then there was a story by Brad Steiger in his book Mysteries of Time & Space, that reported the discovery of an iron pot encased in a lump of coal by a fireman at a Municipal Electric plant in Thomas, Oklahoma, in 1912. Steiger wrote that he traced the source of the coal and learned that it came from the minds at Wilburton, Oklahoma.

Then Randle quoted from the Morrisonville, Illinois Times, of June 11, 1891, a story about a chain discovered in a lump of coal by Mrs. S. W. Culp. The woman discovered the chain after breaking the coal to toss in her stove. She said she first thought the chain had been dropped accidentally in the coal, but discovered that both ends remained embedded in the coal.

Among the more well-known mystery artifacts from the ancient past is the so-called "Coso Artifact," thought to be an ancient spark plug found by rock hounds near Olancha, California, in 1961. While cutting through one rock, thought to be a geode, they cut through a round metalic object with a shaft of bright metal encased in what appeared to be a porcelain cylinder. The metal shaft responded to a magnet. This object has been carefully X-rayed and studied, and the conclusion is that it may be an ancient spark plug.

In a museum in Mexico is a small golden replica of a modern jet aircraft, complete with wings, tail and cockpit. The museum has marked it among insect shaped jewelry from a period estimated to be well over 1,000 years ago. Since it is made of solid gold, its age is impossible to determine. Even its origin is somewhat of a mystery.