Echinoid Effigy

I found this years ago on the boundary between Marion and Citrus County here in Northcentral Florida.

These endocasts of echinoids, especially Eupatagus antillarum, are common in the Inglis formation in a limited area, mainly Citrus County. Collectors are not interested in them because the durable test of E. antillarum is readily available in many exposures. (Eupatagus antillarum is the Florida state invertebrate fossil.)

Someone was interested enough in this one to carve it with eyes. I don't doubt that this was an effigy made by a Native American, but I'll never know for sure. The object may have been decorated in other ways, but it is worn. You can still see some of the details of the cast, though. Notice the ridges radiating from the single hole carved into the oral side.

The rough area at the narrow end is where the anus was located. It appears that the periproct (the plates of the test around the anus) was not preserved, and the opening apparently offered a larger area to bind with the encompassing matrix.

I had some fun illuminating the eye-holes with red light . . . trying to imagine how the effigy might look in front of a campfire. Perhaps there was a translucent quartz pebble in the single hole.