# found metal detecting...what is it?



## shoot2grill

My 6 year old son and I found this while metal detecting a couple weeks ago. It was about 4 inchs deep and looks like a rock but very heavy but not soft like lead. Parts of it are rock like but mostly metal when you scratch it with a knife. I been thinking maybe some old welding slag but this was way back in the woods not near any recent civilization


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## shoot2grill

The other side of it.


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## creekrunner

meteorite?


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## CAL

creekrunner said:


> meteorite?



That's what I was thinking too.


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## shoot2grill

creekrunner said:


> meteorite?


I don't know I was kinda hoping that was what it is,but not sure.


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## shoot2grill

Another pic showing where I scratched it with knife.


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## Reel Big-uns

It's most likely a meteorite and you may not want to do any cleaning or anymore scratching on it, if it is a meteorite.

Check this web page out and do some more goggling and find out what it may be worth. 

http://www.meteoritesusa.com/how-much-are-meteorite-worth.htm

Find a place that specializes in geology and get it certified if it is a meteorite.


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## jason4445

If it scratches easy with a knife - with that shiny metal on the scratched part it looks like lead and from the Civil War era.  Although lead oxides white and that looks like it has some white areas, I have dug up mini balls due to the ground they were in come up sort of dirt colored/rusty looking. If it cuts easy with a knife and where cut is really shiny it is most likely lead cast off from pouring melted lead into molds for mini balls.  he north made its balls from a pressed mold process, but the Confederates made theirs, and often in the field, from melting and pouring.  Some  lead would fall onto the ground and  be forgotten.


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## shoot2grill

jason4445 said:


> If it scratches easy with a knife - with that shiny metal on the scratched part it looks like lead and from the Civil War era.  Although lead oxides white and that looks like it has some white areas, I have dug up mini balls due to the ground they were in come up sort of dirt colored/rusty looking. If it cuts easy with a knife and where cut is really shiny it is most likely lead cast off from pouring melted lead into molds for mini balls.  he north made its balls from a pressed mold process, but the Confederates made theirs, and often in the field, from melting and pouring.  Some  lead would fall onto the ground and  be forgotten.


Its to hard to be lead I wasn't able to cut it just scraped some oxidation off of it. Its very hard, you could hit it with a sledge hammer and not hurt it.


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## Redbug

There are many types of meteorites, classified by what they are made of. Most of the ones that have metal...are mostly nickel. I have a couple nickel iron ones here at the house. 

Does a magnet stick to it really well or just slightly?


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## shoot2grill

Redbug said:


> There are many types of meteorites, classified by what they are made of. Most of the ones that have metal...are mostly nickel. I have a couple nickel iron ones here at the house.
> 
> Does a magnet stick to it really well or just slightly?


Not sure about the magnet ,will check that when I get home.


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## shoot2grill

Nope doesent stick to a magnet.


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## GA DAWG

Recken any real old chicken houses use to sir around or near where it was found? Was it in a field?


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## shoot2grill

GA DAWG said:


> Recken any real old chicken houses use to sir around or near where it was found? Was it in a field?


Im sure at some time could have been a field,there was a school near there about 100 years ago.


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## Jeff Raines

Looks like a pewter slag to me


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## GA DAWG

They use to heat chicken houses with big ol heaters. Threw anything and everything in them.  Melted it. Had a buddy finda a big ol chunk of stuff. Thought it was a meteorite but turned out to be a glass,metal chicken crap combo lol.


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## shoot2grill

After alot of research I believe it is some kind of melted man made metal,there's only been 25 confirmed meterites found in georgia.


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## jigman29

I find things like that at camp sites regularly,best I can tell it's from people throwing their aluminum cans in the fire and they melt into that.But with it being so hard I would have it checked out to be on the safe side.


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## Reel Big-uns

shoot2grill said:


> After alot of research I believe it is some kind of melted man made metal,there's only been 25 confirmed meterites found in georgia.



 I believe if you follow this to a conclusion, this will make 26.
It was found way back in the woods four inches deep in the ground. It has to have been there over 500 or maybe even over 1000 years for that much soil to build up over it that much or it would have to be traveling at a very high rate of speed for an object that size to penetrate the ground that deep.
Or, maybe I've watched too many episodes of Meteorite Men.


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## Redbug

About the magnet. That's a good sign that it does not stick very well. Meteorites also usually have a crust on them and some abliation marks. When falling to earth and melting along the way the atmosphere will make melt marks where the molten material was pushed backward. That's some things to look for. My hunch is that it is not a meteorite. You can send your pics to one of the college professors in a college that has an astronomy program. Here's a good source too...
http://www.meteorite.com/ 

You still never know...and we are not experts.


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## WOODSWIZE

Black panther dung?


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## SmokyMtnSmoke

I found one a few years back that I think may be a meteorite.
Very heavy for its size, not lead as it took a file to make a mark, not magnetic at all with a very strong rare earth magnet.

What do you think?


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## shakey gizzard

jigman29 said:


> I find things like that at camp sites regularly,best I can tell it's from people throwing their aluminum cans in the fire and they melt into that.But with it being so hard I would have it checked out to be on the safe side.



This!


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## shakey gizzard

SmokyMtnSmoke said:


> I found one a few years back that I think may be a meteorite.
> Very heavy for its size, not lead as it took a file to make a mark, not magnetic at all with a very strong rare earth magnet.
> 
> What do you think?



Iron ore


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## bckwzlineman

do you know if there is an old railroad bed near by the area where you found it? as hard as it is there could be some connection to railroad construction. dont know much about it just a hunch.


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## sgtstinky

Coprolite


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## Kendallbearden

shoot2grill said:


> My 6 year old son and I found this while metal detecting a couple weeks ago. It was about 4 inchs deep and looks like a rock but very heavy but not soft like lead. Parts of it are rock like but mostly metal when you scratch it with a knife. I been thinking maybe some old welding slag but this was way back in the woods not near any recent civilization



I used to be a big civil war enthusiast. I've spent a good amount of time metal detecting. Being here in Paulding county, there were a lot of civil war battles nearby, and I've been fortunate enough to have access to land to metal detect close to a couple of those sites. At one site in particular, I found a lot of civil war artifacts. Horseshoes, nuts and bolts off of a cannon, artillary shell fragments, shaving razors, ect. Amongst all this stuff, I also found a ton of lead run off. It looked very similar to that. After researching it, I found that a lot of soldiers would melt down whatever metal they could to mold their own bullets, mini-balls, ect. in the field. That would be my guess as to what it is. My suggestion would be to research the history of the location where you found it at. Maybe you can find an explanation that way.


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## djackson67

Depending on the ore content of the soil... it could be lightning slag?
Duno, just a thought.


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## drippin' rock

Redbug said:


> About the magnet. That's a good sign that it does not stick very well. Meteorites also usually have a crust on them and some abliation marks. When falling to earth and melting along the way the atmosphere will make melt marks where the molten material was pushed backward. That's some things to look for. My hunch is that it is not a meteorite. You can send your pics to one of the college professors in a college that has an astronomy program. Here's a good source too...
> http://www.meteorite.com/
> 
> You still never know...and we are not experts.



He said it doesn't stick at all.  I thought meteorites were supposed stick to magnets??


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## mickbear

djackson67 said:


> Depending on the ore content of the soil... it could be lightning slag?
> Duno, just a thought.


i have three things that look a lot like that one.i found it at the base of a tree that had been hit by lighting.i never put two and two together until now.strange!!thanks for the post djackson.


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## Dixiesimpleman32

I have dug a few things that look like that.Civil war lead should be white.I call it one of those things.Hope its a metorrite good luck.


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## buckshot250

Looks like some kind of metal ore. try cleaning it in vinegar it might help bring the color out of it.


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## Dyrewulf

Looks almost like smelter slag.


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## Joshbiz

So what was it? Did you ever find out??


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## Scrapy

Reel Big-uns said:


> I believe if you follow this to a conclusion, this will make 26.
> It was found way back in the woods four inches deep in the ground. It has to have been there over 500 or maybe even over 1000 years for that much soil to build up over it that much or it would have to be traveling at a very high rate of speed for an object that size to penetrate the ground that deep.
> Or, maybe I've watched too many episodes of Meteorite Men.



Plinthite is a naturally occurring iron rich concretion that can become irreversibly transformed to ironstone upon repeated wetting and drying.  Tifton soil is a good example and Dothan soil. Yet those are generally much more numerous and much smaller concretions. Large concretions within a given soil profile can be rare and large giving a "relict" indication of wetness.  

As for determining age of an artifact with soil depth, I have absolutely no confidence in that. If a relict was in an eroding area it will be on the surface, if it is an area of deposition it will be buried. Centuries ago it could have been in  a zone of alluviation but now eroding.  If it had ever been turn plowed there is just no telling what depth it might be.

If you think it looks like pewter it is not ironstone though.


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