More strange stuff on the bottom
 

Hi All,

A few days ago I was diving for something I'm looking for in middle of Meredith Bay and came across the object in the photos attached.

- The 1st 2 photos are of "similar" looking material I found in about 40 feet off Garnet Point in Moultonboro a few years ago. As I recall readers couldn't help then with what it was which is of course not a surprise. In these photos it's the same object but one shot is of what I could call the top and one shot is of the bottom. It reminded me a bit of a pastry you'd buy in a bakery. I find the striations interesting giving a hint as to how it was formed.

- The next photos are of what I found recently in Meredith. Again top and bottom photos. The beige color is what I would call the top (face up) while the rest are of the bottom forming a cup shape. This object weighs about 1 pound maybe 2 at the most.

In both cases it is apparent to me that at one time both of these objects were molten/hot/soft/pliable until they hit the water. I'm thinking perhaps they represent a bi-product of a steamer burning coal...? I know steamers would dump ash etc. through a hole in the side of the vessel to get rid of it but this stuff has me baffled. I don't know how ash could form what I found.

And what's up with the generally circular shape and similar size (6-7" across) to all of them?

With the Meredith location readers might find it interesting to know that the area I found this sample in has hundreds of these scattered all over as if they rained down from the surface. They are everywhere in a radius of at least 40 feet.

As to the photos I assume they will post in the order I uploaded them-first 2 should be of Moultonboro find.

I think I'll send the photos to the state archaeologist. Any help in figuring out what this stuff is would be appreciated.

How thick is the object in the first photo?

These look like "clinkers" to me. In my youth we had commercial greenhouses steam heated by coal-fired boilers. Coal was loaded into a hopper with a front loading tractor, then fed into the furnace via an auger at the bottom. As the coal burned, it formed what we called clinkers on top of the fire. A few times a day, depending on weather, the furnace doors were opened and with a 10' iron rake, the clinkers were pulled out onto a steel table. When they cooled, they were hand shoveled into a wheelbarrow and taken outdoors. In the spring they were spread over the dirt roads to the fields. They crumbled under the weight of the tractor and made a nice surface. Limited other uses. Remember "cinder blocks" and cinder tracks for competitive running? And cinders on RR tracks?

I could see steamboats offloading clinkers as they came into port before they banked the fires for the night. And maybe broke them int a size easily managed by a chute or conveyor.
Just a guess without actually handling the product.

Aside: Around 1955-60 the flower growing industry in NE started converting to oil so there was no need to pay a fireman, just as RR started going from steam to diesel. When oil went from $8/ bbl to $14/bbl the NE flower growing industry started shutting down and most flowers are now shipped in.

8gv the height or thickness if you will, is approx. 1.5" of the first one in the pictures.

I also checked to see if any of the latest find was magnetic-no.

What I want to know besides what they are is, how did they form?

HH --

Perhaps those are related to the items found in this post?

https://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums...1&postcount=12

I dove the site in the video, and found lots more of the "pot"-like items (none as intact as Brad's, and other pieces with concentric circles like one of your shots shows.

Just a thought...

Grant I don't think they are related but all of them are really interesting, esp. the pot-like formations that Senter Cover Guy was asked to take down. Those items sure looked like they were man-made to me but apparently not.