This truly amazing artefact is far older than mankind but was evidently made by someone. The question is: who?

Discovered in the late 1990s by Zhilin Wang in a remote mountainous area in northwest China, the Lanzhou Stone is one of the most baffling out of place artefacts.

The pear-shaped object is made of an extremely hard black mineral and measures approximately 3 by 3 inches. In some circles it’s been suggested that the stone might be a previously unknown type of meteorite. If this is the case, what purpose did the threaded metal bar inside the stone serve?

As you can see from the photo, embedded inside the Lanzhou stone is a metal piece that looks artificial. It is encased tightly and its position suggests it was deliberately placed there.

Many geologists were stumped by this unexplained relic, as this article in the Lanzhou Morning News suggests:

“More than 10 geologists and global physicists from the National Land Resources Bureau of Gansu Province, Colored Metal Survey Bureau of Gansu Province, the Institute of Geology and Minerals Research of China Academy, Lanzhou Branch, and the School of Resources and Environment of Lanzhou College gathered to study the origin of this mysterious stone.

After a discussion about its possibility of being man-made and the possible reasons for its formation, the scientists unanimously labeled the stone as one of the most valuable in China and in the world for collection, research and archaeological studies.”

The stone’s current location is unknown and analysis results have not been made public. But there are several interesting assumptions to be made. First of all, the metal rod was clearly fabricated and required a certain technological level to be manufactured. The unidentified black material could have been anything but the perspective of it being produced seems very likely.