[blam]

"It had the structural features of a fine-grained softwood, but appeared to me made of lead sulfate, or some other dense, dark metal or metal ore. I never could identify it satisfactorily."

Was this a natural or man-made object?

[Renfield]

It appeared to be natural, but I couldn't tell if it was "organic" vs "mineral". It may have been an example of wood whose atoms are replaced by metal...this happens often in nature, and I have a lot of ironstone fossils...but I don't know how it could have happened in the short time this object would have been in residence, about 14,000 years. This process normally takes many eons.