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Help Identifying egg like object found buried in dirt


Madhatter

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Hello I'm interested in any insight as to what this may be. It was found today March 2021 in my back yard heavily wooded area while I was clearing a trail to ride small ATVs I raked through a ft of overburden and sticks etc revealing the dirt below and found half dozen stone edges protruding through the surface. In an effort to make the trail smooth I began to extract the stones using a spade type shovel after having dug out the stones I picked each one up to throw off the trail and when I grabbed this I realized it was not the same weight actually near weightless and hollow slight rattling noise coming from inside but clearly hollow. At first I thought it was a science project made from fiberglass but it appears to only have fiberous stringy stuff inside the shell portion the outer shell like layer is solid in texture and resembling ceramic look or guess thick egg shell I've only experience with bacon and egg eggs but it kinda does look like shell more than anything else I can think of. It was found in Stokes Bay Ontario Canada Lake Huron side but my place is inland few km not shoreline. It's about midway up the Bruce Peninsula. It was a maximum of  ft below surface damp mossy soft soil area heavily treed and under a ft of overburden don't think anyone has been in this specific spot anytime recently as I was cutting the path out for first time.  My thoughts are science project maybe? Some type large bird maybe? Or just odd thing fell from the sky lol? Not something I've seen before. 

Any help of course would be appreciated 

Jason

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I think you may be on the right track with something like fibreglass. Looks like something man-made to me. Maybe gypsum plaster or something similar because it's so light? Doesn't look like a fossil egg other than the shape.

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Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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The strands very much look like evidence of fiberglass Ive never seen inside an egg (if it were) this size so was unsure what might be going on in the physical construction. I don't entirely know if I broke the side digging it up I wasnt really paying attention until I grabbed it after.  Such an odd thing to make I'm in cottage country where rocks are free in abundance, why one would clone a stone though not impossible just odd  and to wind up where it was mixed amongst half dozen other normal stones in the dirt  is strange again. 

Thanks for the reply 

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Can I do the shell in vinegar test like with chicken egg and it will dissolve just a small piece see what happens guess can't hurt 

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Great idea with the vinegar.  See if it fizzes.  Is it heavy or light?  Could be a weight or buoyant piece.  The somewhat depressed area around its circumference suggests it may have been tied to something, like maybe a fishing net.    

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4 hours ago, Paleome said:

like maybe a fishing net. 

I think you are into something! Buoy, floater etc.

 

5 hours ago, Madhatter said:

it was mixed amongst half dozen other normal stones in the dirt

No other garbage mixed in there?
Franz Bernhard

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2 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

No other garbage mixed in there?

 

I'd also like to know. Though, as others have said, I agree this looks very much like a fibre glass construction, I'm concerned it may also be something with asbestos in it - this might explain why it was buried. Although I luckily haven't seen too much asbestos over my studies in archaeology, you do occasionally run into that stuff, and it can indeed look like thick egg shell with fibres sticking out to the sides. As asbestos is carcinogenic, please take proper care in handling this object, wearing face mask, eye protection and gloves, until its composition can be established or the object is disposed off. Above all take care for the fibres or dust from the "shell" to not enter your lungs or body otherwise.

Edited by pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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Yeah nothing else foreign in the area I went back last night to see if I missed anything  that was not right on the trail area I groomed, I'm 3 days into working this micro trail that in entirety is laid out amongst a half acre of wooded area behind my cottage, I've not seen so much as a bottle cap anywhere in the vicinity I've been tending too. Good idea to be cautious never can be sure but it doesn't seem to be crumbly dusty in any way. The outer shell sections are very obviously a seperate layer to the inner woven stringy portion. the stringy portion is solid dense to tap on and the shell can be snapped off clean pieces. I want to think fiberglass plaster something but there is not any of the stringy fibers contained in the outer shell. Like if you snap the outer shell it lifts off the fiber stringy shell. Could be fiberglass core encased in plaster guess just trying to justify what,where why would have been used for and the location found is just bizarre assuming it's man made. Sounds like it's definitely not a raptor egg though  and the mystery is going to just be a  who and why. 

Appreciate the replies,

Jason

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Okay it's been identified lol feel dumb now my daughter found this bird ornament a week or so ago in the woods and I just now recalled it in my head and went to the scrap metal pile I had tossed it in, looks like we have our mystery figured out.. not sure if I should delete the post of perhaps leave it as it sure re affirms keeping an open mind lol

 

 

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Hahaha!! :default_rofl:

Thanks for solving the mystery for us, I had a really hard laugh!

And really no need to feel dump :dinothumb:.

Yes, please keep the post!

Thanks for sharing, made a good puzzle for some of us. Many TFF members like this kind of posts, you can always learn something new.

Franz Bernhard

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44 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said:

Hahaha!! :default_rofl:

Thanks for solving the mystery for us, I had a really hard laugh!

And really no need to feel dump :dinothumb:.

Yes, please keep the post!

Thanks for sharing, made a good puzzle for some of us. Many TFF members like this kind of posts, you can always learn something new.

Franz Bernhard

 

:heartylaugh:

 

I fully agree! Always good to keep an open mind, have a good laugh,  and learn from your (or other's) mistakes. Leaving this up will allow others to figure out how ornaments like this are made, and how modern manmade objects look after having been buried for some time ;)

 

Informative and enjoyable:thumbsu:

'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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It's a learning moment and well shows the process we go through when we see an odd little mystery like this.

 

Initial instincts on this were proved right in the end and it is nice to get such great closure on this. Many mysteries remain open ended.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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21 hours ago, Madhatter said:

Some type large bird maybe?

Prescient--real prescient. ;)

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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