Spiral Shaped Fossils Missouri

[JCGatorfan]

Hello Everyone,

 

My kids found this in our front yard about 10 years back and it has been sitting on our deck as a conversation piece ever since. I just recently decided to try and find out what this could possibly be. We Live in Southeast Missouri, at Wappapello Lake 36°56'08.3"N 90°16'40.0"W. Our Home is on a hill overlooking Mingo Swamp, which is located in the western Lowlands, and was formed by the meltwaters from the Illinoian Ice age.

 

According to our nearby forest service at old Mingo Swamp, our front yard used to be the the shoreline of the Mississippi river thousands of years ago. Using these Generalized Geologic maps, the fossil was found where the three counties of, Wayne, Stoddard and Butler meet.

 

 

     

 

 

 I am including the below photos of the "fossil" taken on a crafting pad which is marked with one inch by one inch squares. Also included are a couple photos taken in a different light setting. I look forward to hearing what everyone thinks.

 

         Front 001  

 

         Front 002  

 

         Front 003  

 

         Front 004  

 

         Top 005        

 

     Bottom 006   

 

Right Side 007      

 

Left Side 008     

 

 

 

  

Edited May 13, 2018 by JCGatorfan

[Raggedy Man]

Its extremely distorted, but it could be geological in nature or it could be a highly worn and distorted maclurite(gastropod). Below is an image of a maclurite. Sorry I can't be of any further help. Maybe someone else will chime in with a different take on this.

 

[JCGatorfan]

Thank you for the response. We have always been curious about what they it might be, with my kids claiming that it is a pair of prehistoric owl eyes. Would anyone on this site have a guess at how old these may be?

[ashcraft]

It is probably a gastropod.  The material is probably Ordovician.  That is the common bedrock of that area.  Formation maybe Jefferson City or Roubidoux.  I am not very familiar with that age material, ours is somewhat younger.  Google geologic column of Missouri, and you will see the formations found in Missouri and when they were deposited.  There are also outcrops of late Cambrian deposits in that area I think, but not sure......know they show up in the Ozark foothills closer to St. Louis.

 

On the other side of the Mingo basin,

Brent Ashcraft