#sunstones

⭐️✨Got Item!!!✨⭐️

You. Have. NO. IDEA.

how hard I struggled

to fish up/win Treasure Chests to craft this fumkin thing

But I did it! BY JOVE I DID IT!!

My best friend Ashley and I went to another Midwest Crystal Fest gemstone and crystal convention today, and I happened to be one of the lucky hourly raffle winners. They gave me a choice on which prize I wanted, so I chose the pyrite sun dollar (pyrite being more commonly known as fools gold). Here are a few things I found out after doing some research. These sun dollars are found in Sparta, IL where they mine for coal. They were formed about 350 million years ago under enormous pressure, and it is common to find them about 300 feet below ground between seams of coal. Nearly all of the coal mines near Sparta have been shut down, so these will start to become sparse. Sun dollars do deteriorate over time when exposed to oxygen, but how many years this takes varies depending on a couple factors. One, it depends on the moisture in the air. Moisture will break them down faster. Two, it depends on the amount of marcasite in it. The more marcasite it has, the quicker it will deteriorate. To slow this process, I purchased a floating frame display case from Fossil Era which will help give it a vacuum seal, reducing the amount of oxygen and moisture that it is exposed to (picture provided for reference).

It was such an awesome raffle win. I've loved gemstones, crystals, and minerals all my life, and I call them the trinkets of the earth. As a kid, they fascinated me. As a teenager, I decided that "rock collections are sooooo lame." Then, I got into my 20s and was like, "Fuck what everyone else thinks. Rocks are awesome." It fascinates me that they vary in shape, size, color, chemical makeup, environmental factors, amongst so many other variables, but that they all come from the same earth. It never fails to blow my mind, and although I'm no geologist, researching this stuff makes my weird little heart happy. I am always learning something new, and if there's something about a certain crystal, mineral, or gemstone that I'm curious about, I WILL find an answer.

Archaeologists have found several hundred of the socalled sunstones. They are all dated to 2900 BC. For a while there was a bit confusion as to what and why they were but the mystery has been solved. *yay*

The sunstones have been spread in a very fine layer just like the people would spread grains to grow on a field. The stones are pretty small, but of course they vary in size. And there are two types of sunstone:

These round ones with a sun carved onto them. They are beautiful!

And these bigger stones that are less round, onto which ppl have carved grains. They are also amazing!

So.... why would people try to "sow" these stones on fields in 2900BC? Well, it turns out that around that times there was a big vulcano eruption and that caused very cold Springs and Summers for a while. It is believed that these sunstones were an offering and attemted aid to help the Sun come back to make the weather better and to help the grain grow on the fields again.

And honestly? I think this is an extremely beautiful attempt to solve a problem. A few sunstones are currently on display at the National Museum of Denmark and I want to see them so bad! But I have no plans to go to Copenhagen so I don't know if I'll ever get to see them.

Shriektober Day 7 - Pebble

All of my Sunstones i own (looking for more btw) credits listed below

Hot Pink, Watermelon, Sunset, Geometric | Dusty Pink | Rose | Rainbow | Holographic | Rainbow Lattice | Russian Rainbow | Short | Haunted