Wednesday, September 05, 2007

A stone anchor?

Reader Bruce sent this:

I've added a strange stone I found last season, on the shoreline of the
Ottawa River in the west end of the city:
http://www.pbase.com/telemachus/image/85070771

It looks almost like an anchor stone, such as used by Chinese fishermen
on the west coast. The hole seems deliberate.

Editor's comment - a Chinese stone anchor in Eastern Canada would be worth collecting. In some places, such a find would merit a newspaper article. Here are some stone anchors from Google Image Search [Click here] I think some of the better matching examples are "Bronze Age" - PWAX

3 comments :

Anonymous said...

The hole in the stone appears to be drilled. The hole is not perfectly round, it has two rounded points suggesting that it is a variant of the triangular drilled quarry hole used for blasting. The drilled stone is surrounded by extensive deposits of angular rock, probably crushed stone known as "rip-rap" and used for erosion control. It location on a river bank is consistent with that purpose. I would hypothesis that the stone with the drilled hole is mine or quarry waste rock.

James Gage
www.StoneStructures.org

The Lizard said...

I'm heading back to the shoreline today, to see if I can recover, or at least re-photograph, the stone.

It was the only one of its kind on that shore. I dunno... the thought of "Ottawa City government" and "river erosion control" in the same sentence...

If I find the stone, I'll post more photos.

Thanks.

pwax said...

I do not agree with James. It is true that the drilled stone sits on a bed of broken rock. But those broken rocks have sharp edges and the drilled stone does not. It is unlikely they came from the same source.