A sea shell in Central Illinois?

[Charles Jones]

I picked up this little conch shell while hunting a plowed field at a known woodland/Mississippian site. There was once a mound at this field.

could this shell have come to the site through trade? Is it common to find sea shells with other artifacts?

Chuck

[flintguy]

How big is it?

[Charles Jones]

Forgot the ruler..fixed now

[flintguy]

Thanks.

[flintguy]

No expert on shells in your area, a few hundred million years ago Illinois was a tropical sea...but that looks to be within a few hundred/thousand years old and typical of an Atlantic coast find. I'm guessing it very well could be a trade item. Sharks teeth and shells turn up in mounds in the midwest. Let's see what others think. If Tom Clark sees it, you will probably get your answer.

[flintguy]

I don't know much about farming. but I do know a few gardeners who crush up sea shells and dump them in their garden to add calcium.

[Hal Gorges]

I don’t think it’s a Conch, this is a conch, more like second one,, Tom will know...Usually when those shells are traded, they have holes for suspension, I’m gonna say a seagull flew it in UPS..Lol.i don’t know, I’m just kicking thoughts around, nice find....

[Hal Gorges]

Just saw the size, , also seems to have the right age to be a trade piece, that’s the way many look from Florida shell mounds..don’t know what it’s use might’ve been....

[Benji]

Small freshwater gastropod maybe? Any rivers near there?

[Charles Jones]

Too large and thick, I believe for a snail shell In Illinois. Looks like pictures of immature conch to me.

[Benji]

Yeah not sure charles...im basing my guess on a book ive been reading about shell middens in arcahic and missippian sites...and some of the archaeologists were finding gastropods and bivavles in layers of sediment along with pottery sherds and points....i dont know much about sites in Illinois....if there werent any other shells found....than that it definitely sounds like a random find among your site....could have been a trade piece....thanks for shaing man

[Charles Jones]

There is the Kaskaskia river about 2 miles away, but I’ve never seen any shells like this one, and I spent many days on the river.

[Cecilia]

Does it look fossilized to you guys? It does to me. That takes 10,000 yrs. Most of your state sitting on top of fossil sea reef.

[Cecilia]

P.s. I just read fossilized shells not uncommon in Illinois river bluffs.

[Charles Jones]

Doesn’t seem fossilized to me. There is no material inside the shell. If it were fossilized, the shell would be full of rock.

[Cecilia]

Charles, I just (tried to) read an article in the Journal of Systematic Paleontology, Vol. 15 (2017) with a whole buncha pictures ancient, ancient, ancient shells that look like they just came outta ocean. Here’s one:


If you go to website “Natural History Museum” at nhm.ac.uk, click on News section for “Fossil Shells Reveal....“ for a easier-reading synopsis. To the right of synopsis, is a link you click on to see big article with lotsa pictures. Most of these fossils don’t have any rock within the shells, and look “brand new”. That’s because they were fossilized by silification, where the organism’s minerals are completely replaced by others, turning them into rock replicas.

I dunno.... I think you may have found quite an old jewel !! (‘course, I’m the one who thot squashed geode was dinosaur toebone....!)

p.s. I don’t think the pictured fossil is what yours is; I just wanted you to see it.