Reply #64: Hear you go, dear indigo.

[trotsky]

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/mom/spheres.html

Fortunately in Forbidden Archeology by Michael Cremo and Richard Thompson, some additional information is given. First, it states:

Over the past several decades, South African miners have found hundreds of metallic spheres, at least one of which has three parallel grooves running around its equator. The spheres are of two types--"one of solid bluish metal with white flecks, and another which is a hollow ball filled with a white spongy center" (Jimison 1982).

It is important to note at this time, that (Jimison 1982) is:

Jimison, S. (1982) Scientists baffled by space spheres. Weekly World News, July 27.

Yes, that's THE Weekly World News. The rag several steps below the Enquirer in respectability. Oh, let's go on:

There is no chain-of-evidence that clearly proves that this sphere with the three grooves had them when found in place. If artificial, the grooves could have been carved innocently just as folkart and later mistakenly thought to have been present when it was found. Since the spheres are metamorphic nodules from the pyrophyllite, then they could not have been carved before the sediment was buried and metamorphosed, because the nodule would not have existed at the time that the sediments were deposited. Thus, If these grooves are artificial, than they were created after the nodule was extracted from the pyrophyllite and they are considerably younger than the age assigned to them.

We have no direct evidence that the spheres were removed from the ground in their current state! We're just supposed to take someone's word for it, apparently. That might be good enough for you - if so, are you in the market for some swampland in Florida?

And finally:

However, there is a complete lack of any evidence that either the nodules/spheres are artificial (i.e., manufactured by an intelligent species 2.8 billion years ago - trotsky) or that the grooves were cut prior to burial. As far as can be determined at this time, the spheres consist of pyrite nodules of metamorphic origin and goethite nodules formed by the weathering of the pyrite. Since the nodules are metamorphic in origin and, thus, formed by metamorphism while the enclosing strata were buried under kilometers of rock, the grooves, if artificial, had to have been cut after they had collected from the pyrophyllite during quarrying operations. As a result, the grooves are far less than 2.8 billions old. The nodules are clearly of natural origin and less than 2.8 billion years old.

By the way, did you know they took the word "gullible" out of the dictionary?