Found a wierd rock. INGOers want to help with ID? millstone ? lots of pics

[Hoosier8]

It doesn't look like a mill stone. Looks very similar to a stone column with a square hole to connect to the next stone using a joining stone. The other side looks like the base or top. I would definitely do more probing where you found that.

This is a picture of an old stone column from Italy.

A column stone showing the square hole where a joining stone fixed this one to the next stone. - Picture of Valley of the Temples (Valle dei Templi), Agrigento - TripAdvisor

 

[WilsonMD]

Raise your hand if you're jealous it isn't yours

Ooohh, ooohh, ooohh, pick me, pick me.

 

[chezuki]

 

[williamnewman1]

Send pics to the office at Spring Mill park. SOMEBODY there will know the expert to show them to. By all means save it, It is probably of historical significance. It sure as heck is SOMETHING that a lot of labor was put into long enough ago that stone was a viable option. Is there a stream or waterway nearby that could have powered something like that? or perhaps a quarry where it was cut?

the quarry is due south of the stone about 1/4 mile , and the maps of the area pretty much mark small quarries overlapping eachother at the beginning of the settlement of the area.

I am going to look around for more, but this one was just starting to be covered in topsoil. So you can imagine it has been there for a very long time to get 8 or so inches of soil to buildup

 

[williamnewman1]

Raise your hand if you're jealous it isn't yours

if I find enough for the whole class Ill start passing them out

 

[williamnewman1]

It looks like a millstone, but I've never seen one with scalloped edges. That's a kicker. I don't think it's part of a column, but it could be. The scallops are too extreme for a column.

I agree that I think the scallops are too deep and maybe too numerous. I tried counting on a few different pictures of columns and all have ~20. This one has 26 scallops (I think).

 

[danmdevries]

 

[williamnewman1]

well thats 2 votes for aliens so far .......

 

[hoosierdoc]

Medieval Technology and American History - Photos & Videos - Millstones from England

 

[BOTA56]

Are the teeth there to guide the ground meal out into a catch basin of some sort?

I agree with this, and maybe the holes are in there for hand "cranking" or walking in circles... Like Conan.

 

[williamnewman1]

This is why I love INGO ...... a little bit of some people trying their hardest to figure something out ....... a little bit of aliens and Conan the barbarian

 

[hoosierdoc]

Email someone at Penn state affiliated with my link above. I bet you get an answer

 

[CathyInBlue]

Possibly a cross-section of a limestone column?

It doesn't look like a mill stone. Looks very similar to a stone column with a square hole to connect to the next stone using a joining stone. The other side looks like the base or top. I would definitely do more probing where you found that.

This is a picture of an old stone column from Italy.

A column stone showing the square hole where a joining stone fixed this one to the next stone. - Picture of Valley of the Temples (Valle dei Templi), Agrigento - TripAdvisor

Yeah, the only thing that remotely says mill stone about this is that the one side does not appear to be smooth and appears to have grooves in it. I've never even heard of a mill stone with gear teeth around its circumference.

 

[churchmouse]

I've never seen a stone gear in old mills, but that sure looks like what it is. I wouldn't think a stone to stone set of gears would last long. Perhaps the gear this one meshed with was made of wood?

The square hole in the center not going all the way through makes me think it is a mill stone (the stone that grinds the grain), but what would be the purpose of the teeth?

That is not a gear.....Really.

 

[williamnewman1]

Email someone at Penn state affiliated with my link above. I bet you get an answer

thanks , I appreciate it . Im going to send them a message and spring mill after I get some measurements (Im sure they will want them) .

 

[jamil]

I think it's part of a column. I really don't see the scallops as being all that functional. It's certainly not a gear.

 

[williamnewman1]

well we have concluded not a gear (possibly a sprocket) thanks churchmouse. I am inclined to think column piece, the holes possibly for transport and positioning ?
Im going to thoroughly explore the area though looking for other artifacts ....... Its became my own little treasure hunt.

 

[Bigtanker]

well we have concluded not a gear (possibly a sprocket) thanks churchmouse. I am inclined to think column piece, the holes possibly for transport and positioning ?
Im going to thoroughly explore the area though looking for other artifacts ....... Its became my own little treasure hunt.

What about the wear pattern on the "teeth"? Looks like the bottom half is wore from some kind of use.

 

[jd4320t]

What about the wear pattern on the "teeth"? Looks like the bottom half is wore from some kind of use.

I saw that too and wondered if it was wear. Then I though if it was meant for a column it could be where the column gets narrower.

 

[williamnewman1]

I would think it a poor design if the teeth only met on the bottom half and produced wear, instead of the whole tooth. Now on a column it could be the base or top where the column narrows.