Monday, May 13, 2013

Marked rock in Walden Pond

Got this from reader Michael Coffey (continuing the occasional reporting on anomalous rocks at Walden Pond):

I was hiking at Walden pond yesterday and was drawn to a round white rock submerged in the shallow water about 4 feet from one of the small beaches. I pulled the ~6x8x10" rock out of the water and was pleasantly surprised to find markings on one side. I took some pictures of the markings and then returned the rock to the water (Seen in the bottom picture).
 
 
 
 

I imagine these are someone's initials they carved at home before bringing the rock out to Walden to place on the pile next to the site of Thoreau's house. But one of the marks looks like it could be a chevron so I wondered if it could be something older. The markings look very different depending on the angle.

What do you think? Any idea what kind of rock it is?

2 comments :

pwax said...

I don't recognize the material. It looks like the rock was severely battered in some way. The greyer portion is defined a bit by natural cracks in the rock. So, I have no idea if this is something natural or intentionally man-made.

Norman said...

I would contact the Thoreau Society in Concord, MA, about your discovery.