Clayton Bailey Press                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            2654654665

HOMUS CERAMICUS- 1974

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Countless numbers of small clay balls have been found along the roadside on the southern banks of Carquinez Strait near Port Costa, California. There has been much speculation about the origin and purpose of these balls. Bailey suggests that they are the droppings, or "pyrofacts" of an ancient creature known as, "Homus Ceramicus Industrious". The numerous pyrofacts suggest a patient and industrious creature who rolled clay into little balls and tossed them into a fire in tribal ceremonies or fire rituals. Others have suggested that the balls are droppings formed by a refractory digestive tract, but little evidence for this interpretation has been found. Incredibly, a local industry is built on mining what appears to be a huge burial mound filled with the pyrofacts.