Some pseudo scientists speculate they were manufactured by entities that existed billions of years before man existed on earth.

What on earth is a Klerksdorp Sphere?  When I ran across this set of objects in a list of the most incredible things that scientists can’t explain, “Klerksdorp Spheres” jumped right out at me.

The spheres are 2.8 to 3 million years old.  The over 200 little balls have been collected from pyrophylite deposits, by miners in the area around Ottosdal, South Africa.

They are spheres or ovoids of .20 to 3.94 inches in diameter.  They have rings around their equators, usually three.

For all the world, the brown and reddish hued polished balls look to be created by a master craftsman.  They are not. They are natural creations composed of minerals.

They are known as concretions, and not all of the concretions look like machine-polished spheres.  Some are flattened spheres or discs.

As for the spheres, the proportional exactness has led to speculation by pseudo scientists that they were manufactured by entities that existed billions of years before man existed on earth.

Sometimes the spheres are found globbed together, like a mass of bubbles.

Their make-up varies–some are composed of hematite and some are a mixture of hematite and wollonstonite.  Some contain minor amounts of goethite.

These unusual objects originated as concretions which existed in volcanic sediments or ash.  A concretion forms when minerals precipitate around a nucleus such as a pebble or grain of sand.  The minerals adhere to, and coat, the nucleus-  like the layers of a snowball going downhill.  It takes eons to form, and some are even ground to a beautiful polish by years of wind and water erosion.

When modern men discovered some of the ovoid concretions at other sites, they were sure they had stumbled upon dinosaur eggs.

While the Klerpsdorp Spheres are possibly the most delicate and unique, there are concretions and discs all over the world, some large:  Moqui Marbles of Navajo Sandstone in Utah, carbonate concretions of Schoharie, New York, Bowling Ball Beach, California, Hammersly Group of Australia, lens-shaped concretions of Czech Republic, and the Aggregate Concretions of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.  They are not exactly rare, but they have startled those who first set eyes on them.

There is a South African Klerkdorp Museum which houses some of the little spheres in a glass display case.  Funny thing, the spheres rotate in the case at a very slow rate of speed.  It is emphasized that “this is only a result of slight tremors and vibrations of the nearby surroundings.”

Some scientists have concluded that the mystery of concretion sphere formations may never be solved. They are natural oddities of the world, to be appreciated for the wonders that they are.

Please click HERE to find Sara’s mystery. novel, Dark Continent Continental, on Amazon.