This stone is made from a type of stone that is not common in the area where it was found.
In 1872, a group of workers doing construction next to Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, USA, encountered something strange. While digging a hole to bury a fence post, a worker accidentally picked up a lump of clay containing an egg-shaped stone. Unexpectedly, this stone has caused headaches for the scientific community for many years. Why does this happen?
This strange egg-shaped stone later came into the possession of Seneca A. Ladd, a local businessman who hired workers to dig the fence.
The reason this stone attracts the attention of the scientific community is because its surface has many unusual patterns engraved. This type of pattern has never been discovered before in the United States. Furthermore, the type of stone used to create this stone is not common in the state of New Hampshire. Afterwards, archaeologists named it “New England’s Mystery Stone”.
The egg-shaped stone is about 10.2cm long, 6.4cm thick, weighs 510.3g and is black. There are holes at both ends of the stone, it is drilled from one end to the other.
After examination, it was determined that this stone was made from sandstone or mylonite. This is a smooth rock formed by the movement of rock layers along fault lines.
The stone is carved with many strange symbols such as astronomy, a human face, an upside-down arrow, the Moon with two round dots, a spiral, and a tent. On one side of the stone is carved an image of corn with 17 corn kernels in a row. Below the corn is a circle with 3 symbols such as deer legs and an animal with big ears. The face is carved slightly sunken with the nose not protruding above the surface of the egg. In particular, the lips of the face seem to be created with a purposeful expression.
After that, American Naturalist magazine approached Seneca A. Ladd with a proposal to write an article about this strange stone. The magazine described this artifact as “a special relic of the Indians”.
The stone was kept by Mr. Seneca A. Ladd’s family until Mr. Ladd’s death in 1892. His daughter donated the stone to the New Hampshire State Historical Research Association for experts to study. Scientists of this Association do not believe that this stone was created by Native Americans, so they displayed it in a separate area.
Theories about the origin of the strange stone
Regarding the origin of this egg-shaped stone, scientists have proposed a number of hypotheses to explain.
First, the theory put forward by American Naturalist magazine is that this stone is a memorial to a treaty signed between two Native American tribes.
Second, experts from the New Hampshire State Historical Research Association believe that this stone originated from the Celtic or Inuit people (or Eskimo). It could be some kind of tool for them.
Third, in 1931, a letter was sent to the New Hampshire State Historical Research Association asserting that the stone was a thunderstone. This person also called the stone a lightning blade, and the lightning ax was said to “fall from the sky”. Stories about lightning stones have been found in many different cultures around the world. It is often associated with the God of Thunder. The author of the letter believes that lightning is often buried in clay or solid rock or surrounding coral.
Fourth, in 1994, Richard Boisvert, a New Hampshire state archaeologist, believed that this stone was originally part of something. This expert made his conclusion based on the holes drilled on both ends of the stone. He said the drilled holes were all straight, not tapered, which proved that the stone was placed on a metal shaft and removed many times. Richard Boisvert also believes that these drill holes were created by electric tools, not manual techniques. This hypothesis of his has led some people to suspect that this egg-shaped stone is just an elaborate hoax by someone else.
Fifth, this egg-shaped stone has so many special features that people still cannot determine its age. Therefore, some experts have hypothesized that this stone may come from another planet. They even believe that the engraving on the stone is the code of aliens.
Until now, no one has determined the origin of this egg-shaped stone. Scientists are still trying to figure out what this stone was made for and what the engraving above means. The stone is currently on display at the New Hampshire State Historical Museum, surrounded by mirrors to highlight its features.
