The Coso Geode Erratic- with imbedded spark plug
X-RAYS
X-RAYS
Professional skeptic Pierre Stromberg and the ubiquitous geologist Paul Heinrich answered this question in a May 2000 article about the case. In "Coso Artifact: Mystery from the Depths of Time" the authors noted that the rock the Coso Artifact "possesses no characteristics that would classify it as a geode." While geodes require long times to form, the artifact has no interior crystals or a chalcedonic silica crust; therefore, it is not a geode. More significantly, that also means it did not necessarily take long times to form.The authors contacted Chad Windham, president of Spark Plug Collectors of America and asked him to examine x-rays of the Coso Artifact: "Windham replied he was certain that it was a 1920's era Champion spark plug." The authors compared the 1920s spark plug to the Coso Artifact photographs and found it to be identical. The old-style make of the early plug accounted for the difference between it and 1960s-era spark plugs originally used for comparison. They concluded that "To suggest that it was a device belonging to an advanced ancient civilization of the past could be interpreted as true, but is an exaggeration of several thousand years."