⛏️260–320 million year old Gold chain found in Illinois coal

In the early 1940s, a woman named Mrs. Myrtle Craft of Morrisonville, Illinois, experienced something completely unexpected during an otherwise ordinary day. She was breaking up a lump of coal to use in her stove when, to her astonishment, a small gold chain approximately 10 inches long fell out from the center of the coal. Given that coal forms over millions of years through the slow compression and fossilization of ancient plant matter, the discovery of a man-made gold object embedded in the middle of a coal lump was nothing short of astonishing. According to reports at the time, Mrs. Craft showed the coal and the chain to her neighbors, and word of the bizarre finding quickly spread. What made the event even more compelling was that the chain had apparently left a distinct impression in both halves of the broken coal, suggesting that it had been completely encased inside the mass long before it had hardened.

This strange incident caught the attention of those interested in unexplained phenomena, particularly authors and researchers focused on so-called "out-of-place artifacts" or OOPArts—objects found in historical or geological contexts that appear to defy established scientific knowledge. If the story was true and the chain was genuinely embedded in coal dated to the Carboniferous Period (approximately 260 to 320 million years ago), it would challenge nearly everything we know about human history, metallurgy, and the evolution of intelligent life. However, as with many such stories, the evidence is thin, the original artifact has been lost, and the account survives only through secondhand reports and archived newspaper articles. Nonetheless, it remains a compelling mystery.

To understand the implications of this alleged discovery, one must first understand how coal forms. Most coal deposits originate from the Carboniferous Period, which occurred roughly 359 to 299 million years ago. During this era, Earth’s atmosphere had high oxygen levels, and immense, dense forests of ferns, horsetails, and lycopods thrived in warm, swampy environments. As these plants died, they formed thick layers of organic debris, which over millions of years were buried under layers of sediment. Heat and pressure gradually compressed this organic matter into peat and eventually into various grades of coal, from lignite to anthracite. Coal from the Illinois Basin, where the Morrisonville coal was mined, has been studied extensively by geologists. These deposits have been dated through stratigraphy and radiometric analysis and are reliably considered to be between 260 and 320 million years old.

If the story is to be believed, a human-crafted gold chain was embedded inside one of these ancient coal formations. The description of the chain, as reported in the original account, suggests that it was intricately designed with twisted links, indicating craftsmanship beyond what would occur naturally. It reportedly weighed about eight ounces and appeared to be made of gold or gold-like metal. The fact that it had left an imprint in both halves of the coal lump strongly suggested it had been encased in the mass long before the coal had hardened. However, no photographs of the chain survive, and the artifact itself has vanished over time. The story survives in print largely through secondary sources and references in works exploring fringe archaeology and unexplained mysteries.

The implications of such an object being found in coal dated to the Carboniferous Period are staggering. According to our current scientific understanding, anatomically modern humans did not appear until around 300,000 years ago, and even our earliest hominid ancestors date back only 6–7 million years. The oldest known use of gold and other metals by human societies dates back no more than 6,000–8,000 years. A gold chain embedded in a lump of Carboniferous-era coal would imply that either humans—or some intelligent metal-working species—existed hundreds of millions of years ago, long before the age of the dinosaurs, let alone the age of humans. Such a discovery would fundamentally overturn everything we believe about human evolution, the development of technology, and Earth’s prehistory.

This idea, while sensational, has found some support among proponents of alternative history and fringe science. Some researchers have speculated that advanced civilizations may have arisen and fallen long before our own, possibly wiped out by natural disasters or cosmic events. Others have proposed that the object might not be human-made at all but could be the product of non-human intelligence, perhaps extraterrestrial in origin. These ideas, however intriguing, remain unproven and are not supported by mainstream archaeology or geology.

A more conservative suggestion is that there may have been an error in geological dating. Could the coal lump in question be much younger than assumed? Could it have formed around or after the time of human civilization, allowing for a modern object to become encased within it? This explanation is highly unlikely. The stratigraphy of coal deposits in Illinois and elsewhere in North America has been thoroughly studied, and their ages have been confirmed by radiometric dating, fossil records, and other well-established geological methods. It is also improbable that a gold chain, made of a metal that does not chemically bond with coal or plant matter, could find its way deep into a coal seam without being noticed by miners or geologists. Furthermore, coal seams form deep underground, and it is not plausible for a modern artifact to somehow migrate into such a seam and become so completely embedded that it leaves impressions on either side of the coal lump.

This leads many skeptics and scientists to conclude that the story of the Morrisonville chain is most likely a misunderstanding or an outright hoax. One possibility is that the coal lump was not a solid piece of Carboniferous coal but rather a clump of compacted coal dust, sediment, or partially solidified material, in which a modern gold chain became lodged. Coal is often transported and stored in bulk, during which time it can become mixed with modern debris. It is also possible that the impression seen in the coal was misinterpreted, or even that someone intentionally embedded the chain for the purpose of creating a sensational story. The 1940s were a time when reports of strange archaeological discoveries, UFOs, and other mysteries frequently made it into newspapers and magazines, often with minimal fact-checking. Without the physical object, and with no independent verification of the discovery, the story remains unproven.

The Morrisonville chain is not the only case of a supposed out-of-place artifact. Over the years, numerous other claims have surfaced. The Salzburg Cube, also known as the Wolfsegg Iron, is a small metal object discovered in Austria that some claimed was machined and millions of years old. The Nampa figurine, found during a well-drilling operation in Idaho, was a tiny clay doll allegedly from layers dating back two million years. The Coso artifact, found encased in what appeared to be a geode, looked like a modern spark plug and was claimed to be 500,000 years old. While intriguing, most of these cases have been debunked or remain unverified due to lack of supporting evidence and the disappearance of the original objects. The Morrisonville chain fits into this pattern: a sensational claim with minimal documentation and no surviving artifact to examine.

Adding to the skepticism is the geological behavior of gold. Gold typically forms through hydrothermal processes and is most often found in quartz veins or alluvial deposits. It does not naturally form in coal seams, and there is no known mechanism by which a gold object could become embedded in coal-forming plant material and survive the extreme conditions required to transform that material into coal. Furthermore, if there had been an ancient civilization capable of crafting gold chains during the Carboniferous Period, we would expect to find more evidence—tools, structures, other artifacts—but none have ever been discovered in Carboniferous strata.

Despite the lack of scientific credibility, the story of the gold chain in coal continues to capture the imagination. It is often cited by alternative historians, creationists, and mystery enthusiasts as a tantalizing possibility that challenges mainstream narratives. It illustrates humanity's fascination with the unknown, our desire to uncover hidden truths, and our willingness to believe in mysteries that defy explanation. Whether the Morrisonville chain was a misunderstood piece of debris, an elaborate hoax, or something more extraordinary, it serves as a symbol of our enduring curiosity about the past.

In the final analysis, the Morrisonville gold chain is more legend than science. With no artifact to study, no peer-reviewed documentation, and no corroborating evidence, the story cannot be confirmed. It remains one of many such tales that linger in the shadows of archaeology and geology, stories that might contain a kernel of truth—or might simply be products of imagination, error, or deception. Regardless of its origin, the story continues to be retold, inspiring wonder and speculation more than 80 years after that coal lump cracked open in a quiet Illinois home.