No, that’s not a typo… Oopart stands for “Out Of Place Artefact”, and is a term used to describe an obviously artificial object which has been found in an archeological, historical or paleontological context which challenges, or in some cases outright contradicts, conventional historical chronology by its presence within that context.
Generally, ooparts fall into two main categories – those that exhibit technology which appears too advanced to have existed at the time, and those that suggest a human presence at a time before humans are known to have existed. It is the latter which this article will focus on.
Three impossible objects found in coal
Established scientific wisdom tell us that coal is formed over millions of years, with the vast majority of it being laid down between 300 to 350 million years ago. It should therefore be utterly impossible for any object to be found embedded in coal. Yet, in America alone, there have been at least three recorded instances of just that – a small iron pot was discovered embedded in coal in Oklahoma; a brass bell in Virginia; and a gold chain in Illinois.
The Oklahoma Pot
Unremarkable in all other respects, this cast iron vessel was found in 1912 when Frank J. Kenwood broke apart a large chunk of coal to better make it fit in a furnace. In 1948 he wrote in a signed affidavit:
While I was working in the Municipal Electric Plant in Thomas, Oklahoma, in 1912, I came upon a solid chunk of coal which was too large to use. I broke it with a sledge hammer. This iron pot fell from the centre, leaving the impression or mould of the pot in the piece of coal. Jim Stall (an employee of the company) witnessed the breaking of the coal, and saw the pot fall out. I traced the source of the coal, and found that it came from the Wilburton, Oklahoma Mines.
The Virginian Brass Bell
This bell was found in Buckhannon, West Virginia, USA, in 1944 by 10 year old Newton Anderson when he dropped a piece of coal which broke apart to reveal the bell inside. Although made from brass, the exact composition has been found to have an unusual mix of elements, making it unlike any made today. About 18cm tall, the bell is a double-enigma as the figure at the top is remarkably similar to Indian iconography – but not “Indian” as in the peoples originally native to Virginia, but rather those native to the Indian subcontinent, half a world away – appearing to depict Garuda, the gigantic bird which carries Lord Vishnu.
The Illinois Gold Chain
According to an account in the Morrisonville Times of 11th June, 1891, a Mrs. S. W. Culp, of Morrisonville, Illinois, USA, was breaking up coal for her kitchen stove when she noticed that one of the lumps had a gold chain necklace embedded in it. The chain measured about 10 inches long and was found to be made of eight-carat gold. When examined, the remains of the coal still showed the indentations made by the chain. Unfortunately, unlike the other examples given, the whereabouts of the chain today is unknown, and no photographs exist.
Three impossible objects embedded in rock
It’s not just coal which has produced impossible objects – there are examples of out of place artifacts turning up embedded in solid rock.
The Lanzhou Stone
One such example is a small rock found in 2002 in the Marzong Mountain region of China. The mysterious stone is pear shaped, about 6x8cm, extremely hard and weighs 466 grams and is of a completely unknown composition, suggesting that it may in fact be a meteorite. What is most remarkable though is the small, threaded, metallic bar embedded within the stone. A special conference was convened to study the artefact, comprising geologists from the Institute of Geology and Minerals Research of China Academy and, although they were unable to identify the object, they labelled it as “one of the most valuable in China and in the world for collection, research and Archeological studies“.
The London Hammer
This iron hammer head and the remains of a wooden handle was found in 1936 by a couple in London, Texas, USA, embedded in limestone rock. The rock contains fossils which have been dated to be 500,000 years old, although carbon dating of the wooden handle gives a date of up to 700 years (however the results are described as “inconclusive” and it is acknowledged that there can be significant problems with carbon dating on very ancient materials). Like the brass of the Virginian bell, the composition of the iron has been found to be unusual, being 97% pure iron and containing no carbon, which would make it too brittle to be used as a hammer. There is also the fact that it seemingly does not rust.
The “Enigmalith” or “Petradox”
Found in 1998 by electrical engineer John J Williams during a hiking trip at an undisclosed location in North America, this artefact looks for all the world like a modern three-pinned electrical connector. The 8mm wide component is firmly embedded in quartz granite and has been dated to be around 100,000 years old. The object has been submitted to limited testing, including x-rays, but so far the exact composition of the component has not been identified – it does not appear to be manufactured out of wood, plastic, rubber, metal, or any other recognisable material.
So what does this mean?
Taken on their own, each of these artefacts can easily be dismissed. None of them were found by archeologists or geologists in a scientifically secure environment, so it is easy to debunk them as hoaxes. Of course, it is also possible that these objects became embedded in the coal and rock in an entirely natural and explainable way – it is possible, for example, for sandstone and limestone to be eroded by water, and the sediment created to reharden through a process known as “concretion”.
However, the above are just six examples of a much larger collection of artefacts found all around the world and, should even just one of them be scientifically validated, it would mean that we would need to completely re-evaluate the history of human development. Because of this, it does seem that Mainstream Academia goes out of its way to avoid answering this question, preferring instead to debunk and ridicule as a matter of course, rather than investigate and study – and to such an extent as make me wonder what, exactly, it is that they are trying to hide!