Spark plug supposedly encased in a 500,000-year-old geode
Coso artifact in 2018
The Coso artifact is an object claimed by its discoverers to be a spark plug encased in a geode. Discovered on February 13, 1961, by Wallace Lane, Virginia Maxey, and Mike Mikesell while they were prospecting for geodes near the town of Olancha, California, it has long been claimed as an example of an out-of-place artifact.[1] The artifact has been identified as a 1920s-era Champion spark plug.[2]
A spark plug encased in a 500,000-year-old "geode" would represent a substantial scientific and historical anomaly, as spark plugs were invented in the 19th century. Critics say that the stone matrix containing the artifact is not a geode but a concretion that can be explained by natural processes that can take place over decades or years, not millennia.
^Stromberg, P., and P. V. Heinrich, 2004, The Coso Artifact Mystery from the Depths of Time?, Reports of the National Center for Science Education, v. 24, no. 2, pp. 26–30 (March/April 2004).
^Stromberg, P., and P. V. Heinrich, 2018, The Coso Artifact Mystery from the Depths of Time?
The Cosoartifact is an object claimed by its discoverers to be a spark plug encased in a geode. Discovered on February 13, 1961, by Wallace Lane, Virginia...
California Coso Hot Springs, in the Coso Volcanic Field Coso Volcanic Field, in southeastern California Cosoartifact, found in 1961 Coso people, Native...
visit the caves with a tour guide. Minerals portal Bristol Diamonds Cosoartifact Lithophysa Septarian nodule Thunderegg "Geodes: The rocks with a crystal...
cylinder and thus allow the plug to fire more quickly and efficiently. Cosoartifact Glow plug (diesel engine) Glow plug (model engine) Hot-tube ignitor...
Retrieved 2008-09-21. Stromberg, Pierre; Paul V Heinrich (2008). "The CosoArtifact: Mystery From the Depths of Time?". National Center for Science Education...
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Mikesell and Virginia Maxey found a 500,000-year-old rock containing the "Cosoartifact", a metal object that resembled, anachronistically, a spark plug. The...
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