Garbage Posted March 2, 2009 (edited) I was out saturday cycling to the Garden Center but 3/4 of the way there i got a puncture and had to walk it the remaining distance,and all the way back! Whilst on my way i had to push it up a hill and i had always suspected a lost habitation on that hill as it looks the part and is the place i would build,so i looked for interesting rocks and debris on the fields borders. I live on the chalk here so chalk and flint should be the only obvious things sticking out of the mud,but no,several alien rocks smooth in appearance. I vaguely assumed these to be stuff from the building of the road until something else caught my eye,a piece of greyish rock with several raised blobs in a semi-circle equally sized and equally spaced on it's flat side. (After cleaning another crescent of blobs was found,i suspect a decorated mortar.) I put this into my bag,next a slab looking like holey pumice went into the bag. Looking up the hill and into the farmers field it was easy to discern a rectangle of darker earth with an increased incidence of rubbly looking scree material. Finally i got to the top of the hill and cycled on past the solitary church in the middle of nowhere,it's name is Chalgrave,Chal=Chalk and Grave=Grove? ChalkGrove,a church built atop a hill on the site of the previous religious spot,are we talking henge? To the West atop another vantage spot we have Maidenbower,an iron age hillfort built on an earler causewayed camp,this sits on the Icknield way which is a prehistoric route and is the earliest road in Britain. Further along this route is Totternhoe and it's knolls,also the quarry for the famous Totternhoe stone. This stone found it's way into an awful lot of churches over the centuries and from what i understand is a very hard and dense chalk. Not sure if it is the result of a deeper igneous intrusion... It would not be a stretch to assume any henge at Chalgrave would have been Totternhoe stone,mined locally and perhaps reworked into the later church. After buying a small Pine at the garden center i had to walk back this way to get home,it was a bloody long way. This time i surveyed the fields the other side of the road behind the hedge,sadly the hedge provided no cover for me to take a slash... I found more alien rocks,some red granite got me thinking of moraines,from what little i knew of glaciers advancing and carving hills in the chalk and then retreating and dumping their cargo it seemed to fit. It was then i noticed and began thinking,or even the other way round!,of expeditions in polar regions for meteorites and isn't the moraine where they would fall? It's a black rock with a little surface rust? in patches,angular in several ways with a more pronounced point on one side. A flake about the depth of a crust has been knocked off part of it,by plough or some other force. It is not glossy smooth and has no air bubbles or holes,the inside is black with tiny flecks of silver but with no rust on this exposed bit,it does not pick up pins but a 1cm button magnet just sticks to it. It's not magnetite and it's not an iron acretion or a pyrite and from what i can tell it isnt a slag either. What's left? I also found a large smooth off-white boulder the farmer had cast out of the field,it is not local,had no signs of working,and at the time i assumed it had been glacially carried. I didn't take that last boulder with me. Edited March 2, 2009 by Garbage Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
planthelper Posted March 2, 2009 you know, what you describe is the same sort of scenario, which often produced a deep seated happyness, within me, or you might wanna call it a shamanic conection to the earth. the feeling, to be feel priviliged, to have found "just a stone", but to enjoy this moment, more than when you bough a car or a tv. it's the adventure, it's the boyish imagination, it's the need to explore and to discover, and just by doing so, we can feel alive and being part of the universe. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garbage Posted March 2, 2009 I made enquiries at the Natural History Museums mineral department,here is part of the reply. "From the tone of your message, it seems apparent that you have some idea of what a chondrite is and is not, and how it would differ from natural materials and waste 'slags'. However, I remain sceptical that what you have is a meteorite, if only because of the many hundred claims I have had over the past 4 years or so, not one has so far proved to be one (but I do live in great hope!). The fact that it was found in a glacial moraine would suggest that it is more likely to be an 'erratic' from the ice age. Nonetheless it might be worth checking, and you can do this through us." And "Checking of these things is not always a simple process, and probably will require you to leave it with us for a while. It might also require that we cut it in half. We are more likely to be able to say if this is a meteorite or not, than what kind of rock it is, if it isn't a meteorite. The latter ideally requires a thin section to be made, but this is a time consuming and labour intensive process, and we can't offer it for general enquiries" It weighs 420 grams,i think i will investigate a nickel testing kit. I may also send photo of the one that got away. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garbage Posted March 3, 2009 This evening in the dim light of my home i took a picture. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
planthelper Posted March 14, 2009 (edited) some pictures i just have uploaded at the gallery! http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/inde...si&img=2238 http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/inde...si&img=2239 http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/inde...si&img=2240 and i created my first ever blog it take's place in hastings england http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/inde...;blogid=98& Edited March 14, 2009 by planthelper Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
