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But a new explanation for this gastrolith activity has appeared.

It was a gastrolith, a paleontologist’s dream, about the size of a small marble, and he recently displayed it in his hand in the Mines’ paleontology laboratory, its blackness contrasting sharply against the flesh color of his palm.

Among his finds was the gastrolith, a stomach stone from a plesiosaur, a marine reptile with a long neck, long tail and paddles, from about 70 million to 80 million years ago, Cummins said.