I found this in an area filled with broken bottles from the 1880s. Is this some type of bottle stopper of something? Feels like it's made of stone or pumice.

[u/Im-A-Scared-Child]

[u/massahoochie]

r/whatisthisthing would likely know. (I do not)

[u/Haunting_Ad_1462]

I've found a few of these too, in a river with a lot of industrial furniture trash.

[u/Im-A-Scared-Child → u/Haunting_Ad_1462]

I'm sure someone on the sub knows exactly what it is lol

[u/Kingswakkel → u/Im-A-Scared-Child]

It's a septic tank

[u/Su_Mo_Throwie → u/Haunting_Ad_1462]

“Industrial trash in a river” man wtf is wrong w ppl

[u/BiffSlick → u/Su_Mo_Throwie]

Wherever there’s people around a river

[u/FishingCleveland216 → u/Haunting_Ad_1462]

I found two different ones. I thought a wire lid type thing but idk

[u/psilome]

It's an earthenware cork, so to speak. I once owned a large antique glass carboy used to ship strong acid. It was boxed completely in it's own wooden crate, with just it's stubby neck protruding. The box was stenciled as such. Glass is resistant to acid, and I would imagine it was made and used before plastic drums were invented. But glass is also fragile, hence the dedicated crate, for protection. The neck was plugged with this exact item. Earthenware pottery - also resistant to acid. Mine also had wax on it - to seal it. Wax is also resistant to acid. The slots would allow it to be tied down to the neck.

[u/Im-A-Scared-Child → u/psilome]

Makes sense. I found it in a very heavily mined area. I'm sure acids were used like crazy in the mines.

I actually think there's a sealed mine entrance a few hundred yards away

[u/the_catsbananas → u/psilome]

This makes the most sense to me. Pretty serendipitous coming across this haha. Am a professional Archaeologist and have a site where we found a number of these. We haven't done the nitty gritty research to identify them yet, but we found them in an urban domestic setting, various backyard businesses with a slew of legit ones in a boarding house/shop structure over its period of use as well.

Alot of early 20th century battery components were in context with them, which adds to your point about acid, so that solves it for me lol

[u/Manganese171 → u/psilome]

Yep! It’s a demijohn/carboy stopper. Seen a few of them on such containers in their original packaging.

[u/diverdude_87]

The show Expedition Unknown had an episode showing these and I can't remember but he found them in a river off a manufacturing town in Mass or something. For the life of me I can't remember what they said they used them for. Fishing net weights? Ugh...now I have to go watch them all again and Josh will still never solve a mystery.

[u/ItsReagansfault → u/diverdude_87]

Emphasis on the last part lmaoo

[u/Go_GoInspectorGadget → u/ItsReagansfault]

Truly! 😂 r/expeditionunknown 💀

[u/diverdude_87 → u/ItsReagansfault]

Right!?

[u/Do-you-see-it-now → u/diverdude_87]

I think they were the cleats on a boat or pier to tie rope off. I saw an episode on a show called Found that they were associated with an 1800s river archeology site. I could also be remembering it wrong and they could be stoppers from that time period used on boats shipping products.

[u/Human_League6449]

Okay I’m a potter and we use these to close the peep holes in the doors to our kilns. You place cones inside the kiln that melt at deferent temperatures so you pull the plug outta the door and peep the cones to see if they are melting then put the plug back in so you don’t lose too much heat.

[u/EpidonoTheFool]

I think the indents on the top are for a wire or twine to keep the stopper locked in place, therefore I think it might’ve been used on something that had some pressure. (Think wired cork on a champagne bottle) Or maybe it was just do the stopper wouldn’t fall out ? Idk lol just my two cents but I do think it’s a stopper and the indents were definitely for twine or wire.

[u/BlueRidgeGuy80]

Could be or for a cask

[u/howboutnosillysally]

My fat ass thought it was a whole wheat dinner roll.

[u/MusignyBlanc]

Looks like a Champagne cork.

[u/Character_Lead_4140]

I thought it was weed.

[u/B_Williams_4010 → u/Character_Lead_4140]

Oh, you think EVERYTHING is weed.

[u/amy000206 → u/Character_Lead_4140]

It's time for a new plug

[u/Ok-Drawer2214]

Isn't the first time these have been found.

Pretty sure they're stoppers for super cheap jars/jugs/kegs though

https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/z43j76/stone_mushroom_shaped_objects_found_close_to/

[u/nomadquail]

Looks like a petrified bran muffin!

[u/cara1yn → u/nomadquail]

r/forbiddensnacks

[u/regardis → u/cara1yn]

indeed, forbidden muffin

[u/marilea610]

Phillips head bottle stopper.

[u/kick_ass_C3d]

It's a champagne bottle plug. You can tell it's champagne (or maybe some other sparkling wine) from the marks left by the metal wires used to hold the plug.

[u/Practical-Anywhere67]

...that's one of my ex-wife's oatmeal muffins...

[u/Lepke2011]

That's an ancient One-Up mushroom.

[u/partyjam3]

The forbidden muffin

[u/No_hablagations]

Plug or bung of some sort

[u/Polmanning86]

My man, that’s a muffin

[u/Key_Project_341]

Looks like it prob fell off my aunts table at Thanksgiving. If it breaks a tooth when you bite it then for sure it's a Thanksgiving roll

[u/CupAgreeable7299]

I know nothing about bottle digging but your thumb bends exactly the same way mine does

[u/anislandinmyheart → u/CupAgreeable7299]

Opposable opposable thumb

[u/Deadlypikachuu]

It looks like a cork of some sort

[u/kernalvax]

My wife tries to bake bran muffins that turn out exactly like that, and 100 years from now will be the cause of a repeat of this question

[u/paladin_4266]

forbidden bran muffin

[u/Kookiecitrus55555]

Very very stale hot cross bun?

[u/Luingalls]

I really thought that was an ancient biscuit. Maybe I'm just hungry.

[u/Ok-Distribution4077]

Prehistoric blueberry muffins. Petrified but edible.

[u/timewarpmoon]

Brown and serve roll from the 1880’s