Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Curious stone enclosure from northern NJ

Norman Muller writes in:
Doug, a fellow from northern NJ, sent me the attached pictures of an unusual stone construction in the area where he lives. He asked me what it is, and I'm stumped. No measurements were provided of the open, circular structure, except that he said the lintel stone is about 1 ft. thick and 4 feet long, which makes this a very substantial structure indeed, and extremely well built. As you can see, there is no roof, nor is there any indication that there ever was one.
Might it have been an animal pen, I wonder? Anyone is free to speculate.

2 comments :

pwax said...

I wonder about the use of fire with this structure. It is like a forge or a characoal making furnace but too open on top. Note the crack in the lintel stone.

Anonymous said...

Tar kiln? Terpetine furnace?