Mysterious Lake Winnipesaukee Stone Remains An Unexplained Puzzle
Few people interested in history can resist a true archaeological mystery.
Imagine that you suddenly found a strange, dark, strange-looking, egg-shaped stone with unusual carvings and unknown origin.
What would you think?
This is what happened in 1872 when a pair of construction workers dug up a suspicious lump of clay near the shore of Lake Winnipesauke and discovered an artifact now known as the “New England Mystery Stone.”
Scientists are still trying to figure out how the stone was made and for what purpose.
Also, up to now it has been impossible to verify the age of the stone and determine how it was carved. To make it even more interesting, the unknown creator decided to add a series of strange inscriptions and symbols, which are still open to interpretation.
The 4-inch-long, 2 1/2-inch-thick stone is dark and egg-shaped. It includes many carvings such as a face, a teepee, an ear of corn, and geometric figures resembling circles. The stone is a type of quartzite, derived from sandstone, or mylonite, a fine-grained, laminated rock formed by the displacement of rock layers along fault lines. The rock type is not familiar to New Hampshire.
New England Mystery Stone
Over the years, many scientists have tried to unravel the mysterious background of the stone. Some, like the American naturalist, suggested that the stone “commemorates a treaty between two tribes.”
Others believed the stone was a Celtic or Inuit artifact, but the truth is, we still don’t know who created the mystery New England stone.
| Another curious detail is that at both ends of the stone there are holes made with bits of different sizes. Each hole is straight, not tapered. According to an analysis by state officials in 1994, the holes at both ends of the stones were drilled with different-sized drill bits.
Each hole is straight and not tapered. “I have seen several holes drilled in stone with technology that you would associate with prehistoric North America,” said Richard Boisvert, state archaeologist. Over the years, many scientists have tried to unravel the mysterious background of the stone. Some, like the American naturalist, suggested that the stone “commemorates a treaty between two tribes.” “There is a certain amount of unevenness…and this hole was extremely even throughout.” |
Boisvert suggested that the holes were drilled with power tools, perhaps from the 19th or 20th centuries. “What we didn’t see were variations that were consistent with something several hundred years old,” he said.
According to geologist Eugene Boudette, who studied this mysterious stone, “it is a type of quartzite, derived from sandstone, or mylonite, a fine-grained laminated rock formed by the displacement of rock layers along fault lines. The rock type was unfamiliar to New Hampshire, but the state could not be ruled out as the source.”
Boisvert said to his knowledge, the stone is unique. “That makes it very difficult to figure out where it fits,” he said.
What is the meaning of these strange carvings?
whose face is this
One problem is that the history of the stone’s discovery is unclear, he said.
“You couldn’t be sure exactly what kind of context it came from. There is a lot of ambiguity there…it is very difficult to assess,” she said. “The context of the discovery is sometimes more important than the article itself.”
For example, Boisvert said, if the item had been something used by a fraternal order that has its own secrets and mysteries, “that means the information doesn’t come out very well, right? The information may have been available at one time, but is actually no longer available to us. Who knows?”
For what purpose was the stone created and what is the meaning of the symbols?
This question remains unanswered.
One possibility for how to solve this ancient one is if we could find an artifact with similar symbols and compare the inscriptions. However, we may have to wait a long time before this happens, if ever…
Perhaps one day we will know the true story of the New England Mystery Stone, which is undoubtedly one of the most curious artifacts in America.
