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Odd stones

  • 17-08-2020 9:09pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 3,567 ✭✭✭


    Hey folks,

    I saw these at Moone Abbey at the weekend,

    Anyone have a viable explanation for the marks on these stones,?


Comments

  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,218 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    There are similar markings at the entrance to Aghowle Church in county Wicklow and possibly Fore (and a few other Early Christian sites that I can't recall just now).

    These markings are often thought to be the result of sharpening a metal edge. That's problematic and may have been discussed here previously.
    If the markings are the result of drawing a metal edge along the stone, then repeatedly doing so would result not only in a deepening of the groove but also in a dulling of the edge. It is highly unlikely that an edge or blade would be sharpened by drawing it through these grooves.

    Might drawing an edge through a groove in stone have been a symbolic act to demonstrate an interest in peace rather than violence? Could armed churchgoers have symbolically 'blunted' their weapons before entering the church?

    A more mundane explanation might be that the grooves are the result of initial shaping of a blade at an early stage in the manufacturing process. That possibility could be supported by the not infrequent association of evidence for ironworking with Early christian sites.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,567 ✭✭✭cfuserkildare


    Could you not have started a thread of your own for this question?

    Not really related to my initial post at all!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 12,914 ✭✭✭✭Igotadose


    Could you not have started a thread of your own for this question?

    Not really related to my initial post at all!!

    Post moved. Sorry!


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,567 ✭✭✭cfuserkildare


    Igotadose wrote: »
    Post moved. Sorry!



    Thanks.


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