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Identity HelpCharleston Illinois

4th Sep 2023 20:21 UTCAmanda Drake

06459410017072593349607.jpg
I found this and I feel like it’s from the ice age if that’s possible it appears to be the head that was decapitated and you can see where it layed on one side decaying and it appears to have been a claw ran through the top of its head I see 2 eyes   2 holes for nostrils and it’s lips and mouth and it’s teeth. My family thinks I am crazy but I really believe I’m not. Can anyone share their wisdom with me on this to make since to me?  


Questions Answered
Can it scratch glass? : No
Can you scratch it with your fingernail? : No
Is it light/heavy for the size? : Heavy

4th Sep 2023 21:50 UTCDon Windeler

07769040016066724726122.jpg
Amanda:

Welcome to MinDat -- hope you can find some useful background and information here.

In this photo I really just see what looks like a chert or (given your hardness results) maybe a fine-grained limestone.  No fossil or skull to me.  What I'd suggest is that you're experiencing "pareidolia", basically the tendency for the human brain to want to find images or interpretations of things it sees to impose something familiar on it.  Very common with rocks and minerals, as sometimes they can actually represent fossils.

For some light-hearted discussions, see this thread https://www.mindat.org/mesg-567249.html where members shared some of their favorite examples of seeing things in their rocks, as well as rocks with faces in https://www.mindat.org/mesg-509094.html .

For a poorer example, see https://www.mindat.org/mesg-579511.html where an individual refused to listen to the suggestions the multiple experts on the site made regarding his finds -- I'm not sure whether they really believed it and were desperate for validation or were just trolling the site, but the thread was ultimately closed as no longer going anywhere useful.

Personally I love specimens with obvious pareidolia -- they make for fun conversation starters with visitors.

Cheers,
D.

5th Sep 2023 02:17 UTCtodd Van Duren

I'm a little worried about that spot under your chin; better get that examined.

4th Sep 2023 22:40 UTCGeorge Gentry

I can partially see the spot where you might see a face on that rock, but to me it does simply just look like some pearly chert. According to Wikipedia, there used to be a sea where Illinois is today, so I'd agree to say that's just a rock.

4th Sep 2023 23:21 UTCKeith Compton 🌟 Manager

Amanda
Certainly no skull or fossil.
Certainly looks like chert / chalcedony but if you are sure it doesn't scratch then maybe a limestone/marble.
Not nuts ... just a good imagination ((-:)

4th Sep 2023 23:28 UTCPaul Brandes 🌟 Manager

These types of images that some people see on rocks have come to be known as Mimetoliths. R.V. Dietrich created a wonderful web site a number years ago on the subject.

5th Sep 2023 20:38 UTCEd Clopton 🌟 Expert

The latest Ice Age might have been involved in your specimen, in that a glacier could have carried it to the Charleston from wherever it originated to the north.  One of my favorite things about the upper Midwest, where I spent my first almost 50 years, is the smorgasbord of assorted rocks and minerals scattered around by the glaciers.
 
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