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The Rock Fossil
In July 1877, four prospectors were looking for gold and silver outcroppings in a desolate hilly area near the head of Spring Valley not far from Eureka, Nevada. Scanning the rocks one of the men spotted something peculiar projecting from a ledge. Climbing up to get a better look the prospector was surprised to find a human leg bone and knee cap sticking out of solid rock. He called to his companions, and together they dislodged the oddity with picks. Realising they had a most unusual find, the men brought it into Eureka where it was placed on display.
The stone in which the bones were embedded was a hard, dark red quartzite. The bones themselves were almost black with carbonisation indicative of great age. When the surrounding stone was carefully chipped away the specimen was found to be composed of a leg bone broken off four inches above the knee, the knee cap and joint, the lower leg bones, and the complete bones of the foot. Several medical doctors examined the remains and were convinced that anatomically they had indeed once belonged to a modern-looking human being. But an intriguing aspect of the bones was their size: from knee to heel they measured 39 inches. Their owner when alive had stood over 12 feet tall. Compounding the mystery further was the fact that the rock in which the bones were found was dated geologically to the era of the dinosaurs, the Jurassic Period over 185 million years old. The local papers ran several stories on the marvellous find, and two museums sent investigators to determine if any more of the skeleton could be located. Unfortunately nothing else but the leg and foot existed in the rock.