In 1812, construction workers were digging holes in a fence near the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in New English when they found a lump of clay about a distance from the ground, inside was an egg-shaped artifact. It’s called the ’Stone Egg’, one of New Hampshire’s strangest and lesser-known artifacts. Archaeologists have been investigating their origins for over a hundred years without any answers.
Three sides of the mysterious rock eggs of Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire, USA
This stone does not belong to New Hampshire and there are no other artifacts bearing similar markings or designs in the United States. It may have been the work of someone living far away, because it was unlike the artifacts made by local Native American tribes.
Rock eggs are 4 inches (10.2 cm) long, 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) thick, 18 ounces (510.3 grams) in weight, and dark in color. It was as hard as granite, with the size and shape of a goose egg. It is a type of quartzite, derived from sandstone, or mylonite, a fine rock formed in strata along faults. There are holes at both ends of the egg, indicating it was drilled through the ends with different sized tools, and polished along its surface.
In addition to the strange structure and design, the stone is also carved with various strange shapes, ranging from astronomical symbols to a human face along the smooth side of the stone egg. On one side, it carved an inverted arrow-like sign, a moon with several dots, and a spiral. On the other hand, there is a picture of a corn with 17 seeds in a row. Below is a circle with three symbols, one of which looks like the foot of a deer along with an animal with large ears. The “third” side shows a canvas tent with four columns, one with an oval shape and the other with a human face. The face is engraved with a nose that doesn’t go beyond the surface of the egg and lips that look like they are determined.
Seneca A.Ladd, a local businessman who hired workers to dig the fence, is credited with discovering this artifact. When it was first published, the journal American Naturalist described it as “a remarkable monument in India.
Documents and reports show that in 1972 the egg was in the possession of Seneca Ladd and in 1885 it was notable enough to be included in the county history book. Ladd died in 1892, and in 1927, one of his daughters, Frances Ladd Coe of Harbor Center, donated the stone to the New Hampshire Historical Society in the state capital Concord. There, it is classified as artifacts of Native American culture of the 1800s of interest.
Controversial theories about the origin of stone eggs
Regarding the purpose of stone eggs, many historians have tried over the years to come up with an explanation but no clear answer has been given so far.
The original explanations are the simplest answers. In October 1872, the Journal of the American Naturalist called the stone “a memento of an agreement between two tribes”. However, this idea did not hold up for long and it was later hypothesized that it was some kind of ancient tool.
There are also suggestions that the stone egg may be Celtic or Inuit, and in 1931 a letter was sent to the New Hampshire Historical Society claiming it was a “thunder stone”. Also known as “Thunder” or “thunder ax”, thunderstone is a stone object, often shaped like an ax blade, seen as a stone falling from the sky. Stories of thunderstones are found in cultures all over the world, and often involve a thunder God. The writers say that these objects “can always show that they are made by machine or by hand: they often come from deep underground, mixed in clay, or even solid rock or surrounded by coral, ” he said.
Boisvert went on to say that the holes were drilled with force tools rather than traditional techniques used by Native Americans. He added that most likely the holes were made in the 19th century, which means the object is a fake. It leads some to believe that the mysterious Winnipesaukee stone is simply an elaborate hoax.
The only thing that seems certain or reaches a consensus is that it was created by machines. However, the truth is that still no one knows who made this object, when or why. At one time this stone attracted the attention of scientists at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., who sent a map to Seneca A.Ladd to make a mold of the stone egg. Today, this stone egg is on display in a box at the New Hampshire Museum of History, which is housed in a glass case for easy viewing of details.
