Any Idea What This Is?

[nebulanoodle]

I was backpacking with a friend last spring to some hidden dunes in Death Valley NP and stumbled across some odd things there. Obviously not metal detecting, but there were interesting things to be found lying on the surface of the sands! It began with finding what I romantically named, Dune Glass, which was probably just flintknap chippings from natives way back in the day.

That was the biggest piece. From there I spotted something really interesting which I thought would be a huge piece of Dune Glass. But it turned out to be something even more odd! A .50 cal slug, resting contentedly on the sand!

But aside from these interesting finds, I take you to this strange piece that I picked up and brought home in order to clean up what seemed like trash. Found in the area of 37.14981, -117.84051. But I can’t figure out what it might be. Reminds me of an ant trap, but the hole seems way to small, and what a weird place to find it. Also it looks to be sealed in the mesh by hand with staples. I think I should open it up, but I just wanted to see if anyone here might have a clue as to what it is. I’m optimistic that it contains at least a gram of gold 😂

I know they’re not metal detecting finds, but since I’m a detector prospector, I figured I could share here! And if you haven’t visited Eureka Dunes, it’s amazing and worthwhile. 

[afreakofnature]

The government is tracking you now lol probably some type of device for some scientific experiment being done in the park

[Redz]

Looks like an ibutton, which can be data logging temperature sensors or electronic tags .

 

[nebulanoodle]

7 hours ago, afreakofnature said:

The government is tracking you now lol probably some type of device for some scientific experiment being done in the park

 

2 hours ago, Redz said:

Looks like an ibutton, which can be data logging temperature sensors or electronic tags .

 

…ah crap….

I’ve even been carrying it around like a good luck charm to all my nugget patches 😒

[afreakofnature]

Your desert glass looks like chert (crypto crystalline quartz) to me.  If hand worked, could be an arrowhead.

[GB_Amateur]

5 hours ago, nebulanoodle said:

 

…ah crap….

I’ve even been carrying it around like a good luck charm to all my nugget patches 😒

I was thinking it's a radioactive source.  Hope you're done having children if you were carrying it in a pants pocket....  🥴

(Seriously, if it were radioactive there should be a tag/sticker indicating such.)

[afreakofnature]

Oh…..and your not supposed to remove items from NP’s.  Not even rocks.  Just future FYI.

[nebulanoodle]

1 hour ago, afreakofnature said:

Your desert glass looks like chert (crypto crystalline quartz) to me.  If hand worked, could be an arrowhead.

 

1 hour ago, afreakofnature said:

Oh…..and your not supposed to remove items from NP’s.  Not even rocks.  Just future FYI.

It was transparent black with banding, I made out to be obsidian. Especially with so much abundant obsidian over the mountains to the West of there. 
I’m aware of how stingy the NPS is with their ungodly amount of rocks and minerals lol that’s why the only thing at home from above is the ibutton thing which I picked up thinking it was trash! But thanks for looking out 👍 If you’re into backpacking and don’t mind sand, you could go out to the hidden dunes too and find the mysterious dune glass! It’s really odd to find nice black, sand blasted chips of the stuff sitting right on top of the sands. Didn’t see it on any of the desert floor around the dunes, only in ‘em 🤔

1 hour ago, GB_Amateur said:

I was thinking it's a radioactive source.  Hope you're done having children if you were carrying it in a pants pocket....  🥴

(Seriously, if it were radioactive there should be a tag/sticker indicating such.)

😂 I ended up googling ibutton images, like Redz suggested up there and it was a bullseye! Any sort of marking has just worn off the one I found. Probably due to it residing in the shifting sands for years. I may reach out to DVNP to let them know the 5 Ws of me finding it, in case there’s some useful data still salvageable from the device.

[nebulanoodle]

On the dUuuuune glasss…

 

[afreakofnature]

Hmmm obsidian.  Well if I held it in the hand I would know lol. The picture really does look like chert but if there’s an obsidian source pretty close by it’s probably it.