Stones in the Vernacular -- a web springboardBy definition stones are certainly a central focus of geology. We all have some idea what limestone is. It is a common sedimentary rock with a wide array of uses. But the geologist talks of many other types of stones: dolostone, mudstone, sandstone, siltstone, grainstone, wackestone, packstone, marlstone, puddingstone, claystone, ironstone, and slatestone to name a wide array of mostly sedimentary rock forms. While many of these designations are subtle and of interest only to the geologist, others find wider use, as they are very descriptive of the stone’s nature. Certainly most people could care less the difference between a claystone and a siltstone-- they are both shales without the layers, with silt being larger particles than clay. While no longer in wide use, any hard, dark stone is called a whinstone. There are many descriptive stone designations that lack wide use.
D.K. Hackett
While most mineralogical stone designations include the “-ite” ending with the meaning “stone,” some like fairy stone, devil stone, moonstone, sunstone, bloodstone, brimstone, eaglestone, soapstone, flowstone and dripstone openly continue the stony theme. While moonstones and sunstones are related feldspathic gemstones, devilstones smell like brimstone, and are cube-shaped like little dice. They were once pyrite crystals which have lost most of their sulfur to chemical weathering to become ironstone pseudomorphs. Ironstone is a generic term for iron oxides and hydroxides, mostly goethite and limonite. Eaglestones or aetites are also ironstone of the round concretionary variety -- mythically said to be livingstones that can breed, which are often hatched by eagles. Such ironstone concretions from the Navaho sandstone are sold as shaman stones or Moqui Balls. Soapstone, a massive variety of talc is of no use for washing your hands, but is great for stonecarving, and diaper rash. Flowstone and dripstone are the wonderful stalactites and stalagmites of travertine that decorate and line the walls of the subterranean world of caves.
But this all points up that stones are not just the domain of geologists and gemologists. Some stones have been
fundamental to the survival of the human race: flintstone, hammerstone, celtstone, bannerstone, birdstone, pipestone and netstones were among the tools that brought us through and out of Stone Age times. Flintstone tools were not just arrowheads and spear points, but served as knives, awls, drills and scrapers. Larger, tough stones were fashioned into celts, hammers and axes, as well as atlatl weights often called bannerstones and birdstones. Smaller stones were frequently used as net weights and to fashion smoking pipes. Stone was a medium of choice where there were few other choices and served as tools, weapons and more. Many games such as checkers started out using gaming stones. Working stones also included cooking stones and soup stones as well as bowls carved out of stone. While a stone or stoneware bowl might serve as a cooking pot, wooden bowls required a cooking stone or soup stone to be heated in the fire and dropped into the food. Still, in a real sense we have never left the Stone Age, as the stuff of the earth remains the chief source of materials, if only as a raw material for our highly processed goods.
The darker side of stones is as weapons and implements of destruction, murder and mayhem. Stones were used with
catapults and trebuchets to siege castles, with sling shots to bring down giants, laid on by the ton to crush witches. They are still used in ritual stonings by fundamentalist as they were thousands of years ago. As Shirley Jackson wrote in 1948 in The Lottery: “...and then they were upon her.” I have often reached down and picked up a stone when approached by an unfriendly dog or wild animal -- it is in our genes -- instinctual. We all know that “sticks-n-stones will break our bones,” even if we have failed to process the fact that words are only hurtful if we allow them to be. Social civility remains a thin veneer over our warlike nature and our fears that we are puny by nature in a world armed with teeth and claws. This is all to say that our roots are still in the savagery of the Stone Age, and it was not anything like the glib little Flintstone cartoon perspective where life was good with domesticated dinosaurs. Of course getting stoned also refers to a profound state of inebriation.
On a lighter note, working stones as tools went far beyond Paleolithic and Neolithic uses. Stones have had more diverse uses, and continue to serve as tools. Here we have stones serving in such uses as: honestone, whetstone, slipstone, millstone, grindstone, dyestone, touchstone, loadstone, and as weights counterweights and ballast stones. While stone ground meal is an indulgence today, grinding and sharpening are just as likely to use natural as manufactured stones of many shapes to keep the edge finely honed. While few things are dyed intentionally with iron oxide, it still colors the soils of the Southeast and everything that comes into contact with them. Our jeans may still need to have its stains washed out of them, or perhaps stonewashed to give them a worn feel as well. One often finds small pieces of pumice stone still in the pockets of these jeans, or larger pieces in the bathroom. While gold is bought and sold without resorting to a touchstone, it appears to be in a false trust according to news reports. And too, perhaps with GPS, neither a loadstone or a compass is necessary any longer. Stones still have weight, and in England one stone still weighs 14 pounds, though most use kilograms for such reckoning.
Yet long after Stonehenge, building stone remains an architectural mainstay. Our most important buildings continue to be built in stone produced by stonecutters and stonemasons.. It is a major element in our infrastructure. It is foundational even if it often is manufactured stone. In this arena we have many important stones in construction:
keystone, cornerstone, capstone, dimension stone, crushed stone, hearthstone, cobblestone, stepping stone, paving stone, flagstone, curbstone, fieldstone. Where stone is insufficient we have learned to make it from clay baked into bricks and stoneware, and from petroleum, sand and gravel into concrete and asphalt. In these manufactured forms it still brings durability and permanence to our constructions. In crude forms it is still used as fill and as riprap in erosion control.
Other stonework might include remembering and memorializing with stone: milestone, gravestone, tombstone, headstone and footstone. It is the longevity of stone that drives its continued use from birthstone to gravestone, and
all points in-between. It is its image as the Rock of Ages -- something to be depended upon, complete with all its allusions to Peter/Pavel/Pedro, a name derived from the root petra/petro, Greek/Latin for stone or rock [Latin for
stone is more generally lapis/lapides (noun/verb) from whence we get lapidary]. Stone has permanence as well as substance. It is a metaphor for time itself, and has long has been considered so as in the Aztec calendar stone. Stone
has usefulness in length and weight and also extends itself into time making it a useful material for all time.
Messages are often written-in-stone, so as to be preserved through the ages -- the world is filled with inscriptions in
stone, petroglyphs and petrographs on both large rock faces, and small stones such as the Bat Creek Stone, Metcalf
Stone and Grave Creek mound engraved stones. A few stones are naturally carved or sculpted by weathering process and may appear to have writing, or just have strange shapes. Stones with flat faces carved by the wind are common and called ventifacts and dreikanters.
Stones do not just sit idly by like standing stones, hoodoos, balanced stones and stone arches, but they are given to
move of their own as in earthquakes, landsides, and glaciers, or inspire others to move them --as in the metaphoric
rollingstone made more famous by Bob Dylan, but originally by Sisyphus, or the skipping stone that is the idle and
idyllic pastime of nearly all who are presented with pool of water and riverstones. For most of us such a pond is only
a stone’s throw from home. The freeze-thaw cycle can move stones into “fairy rings” in the Arctic. Volcanoes are
known to throw rocks called volcanic bombs. But the fastest moving stones are the incoming meteors that often become meteorites. More strange are the sliding stones and moving rocks of Death Valley’s Racetrack Playa. Here
the stones often leave long tracks as they move across the desert floor. This is all rounded out by the ubiquitous
falling rock for which one so frequently sees road signs. Another interesting stone on the move is the celtstone top or
rattleback which when spun one direction mysteriously stops and reverses its direction. Stones do not just move, there are talking stones as well. Megalithic echo chambers where the acoustics conduct the sound trough channels and megaphones into sound chambers such as at New Grange in Ireland and Mystery Hill in New Hampshire, and perhaps in the mythic Delphic Oracle where anaesthetic fumes emanated from fissures as well. There are also ringing rocks and singing sands in deserts and rock strewn fields around the globe. Stones also are a part of life and living. While not what Stanley was looking for in Africa, South Africa is the home of living stones. Stone plants are small succulents that mimic stones to avoid predation during the long dry spells, only to blossom forth in the wet season. Another common succulent that often grows over the rocks is stonecrop. Another stony plant is the stone mint. Fruit that have been bred to be seedless are sometimes call freestone. In the animal world birds and dinosaurs often eat stones to aid in mastication of the food in their guts, giving rise to gizzardstones and gastroliths. Even you or I could regretfully become the home of a stone by developing a gallstone, kidneystone or bladderstone. A clear stream will produce from beneath the smooth riverstones a six-legged beastie called a stonefly. There are also stonechats, stonefish, and stone martens in our stone zoo. We mentioned the aetites as livingstones, but among the American Indians in addition to the two-legged, four-legged, six-legged, winged, finned and greens that inhabit this planet the rocks and stones too are alive and imbued with spirit. As science learns of the Gaian systems, it too finds some concurrence with American Indian perspectives. It is a living Earth with livingstones. In fact the stoneworts created some of the first fossil stromatolites as well as our breathable atmosphere. And while fossils often represent petrified proof of life long past, the stone lily, or crinoid is among the more elegant of these lithified remains. Petosky stones which are Michigan’s state fossil are often polished to better reveal the septal design left by coral polyps.
Stones, as we see here, do not just exist in the length, weight and time dimensions. They exist in relation to the living
earth, but also in the greater sphere of metaphor, myth, legend and spiritual realms. Here stones of color reign supreme and are the feature of their own magazine Colored Stone. The world of gemstones truly is a world unto
itself filled with highstakes finance, intrigue and romance. Precious and semiprecious gems are not only objects of
adornment, but are objects of art, investment, power and prestige. Companies like deBeers spend lavishly to keep
stones in high demand, despite ever more indistinguishable synthetics that fulfill all the criteria except being a product of nature. Those that cannot afford the real glitz may still adorn themselves as rhinestone cowboys. While
diamonds are not really a girl’s best friend, some stones have sex -- lingham stones and yoni stones are placed on the
alters of temples in India.
Electrified stones also exist. Stones are created by lightning when it strikes sand. The glassy bits of fused sand are
called fulgarites, and are highly prized by collectors of several sorts. They are somewhat like the glassy fragments
called tektites that are splashed out of a meteorite impact. The fossil that is also a natural plastic that oozed from trees has electrical properties as do many minerals. Amber in its Latin name, electrum, gave the electron and electricity their names as in ancient times it was the only known source of electricity. Amber has also been known as burning stone, or Bernstein in German, because it burns with a pleasant fragrance.
The allure and lore of these stones has deeply embedded itself into both our psyche and our culture. Stones of color
appear in a wide range of places and evoke a far ranging recognition. For instance consider: Blackstone, Whitestone, greenstone, Redstone, Yellowstone, bluestone, Greystone, brownstone, Silverstone, and goldstone, each of these evokes some kind of recognition, such as a magician and Ka’aba at Mecca, chalk bluffs and sacred monuments, metamorphism, rockets, geysers and parklands, Stonehenge and paving stones, buildings, actresses, radio telescopes and Italian glassworks. But Silverstone is not just a popular starlet named Alicia, it is a city in North Carolina, and a common question from children who first encounter mica. While a reference to a greenstone might mean, malachite, amazonite, chrysoprase or emerald, to most geologists, it invokes notions of metamorphosed basalts in orogenic belts. These are descriptive terms that invoke more mental recognition than a simple stone of that color.
Besides the celebrity names of Blackstone, and Silverstone we have Sharon Stone and Oliver Stone. The world is filled with stone people. In fact the name Stone is the 135th most common name in America with over a quarter of a million people bearing it. Much more common than Rock, sorry Chris, or the given names: Crystal, Opal, Ruby, Amber and Pearl. The word stone is from the Germanic roots of our language, Stein in German as in Einstein (one
stone or a stone). While several English names include stone such as, Poundstone, Gladstone, Tipstone, Whetstone, Wigglestone, Wheatstone for instance, it is in German names where dozens of stein names occur from Steinway to Rubenstein, and Steinberg to Weinstein. Sir Charles Wheatstone is famous for a bridge, but it is not a stone bridge, but a simple resistance circuit for evaluating an unknown resistance. A wheatstone is a stone filled with triticites, a fossil protozoan which looks much like grains of wheat.
The allure and permanence of stone imagery has attracted two tire manufactures to use stone names Firestone and
Bridgestone. It is clear that many have acquired stone names, either by a active love for stones, or by a family
association with stone use and trade.
The allure of stones has caused others to undertake pilgrimages and quests. Many people traveling to Ireland find an
irresistible urge to bend down and kiss the Blarney Stone. Others go to Jerusalem to leave prayers in the Wailing Wall. Still others, travel to Mecca to visit the Ka’aba, thought by many to be a meteorite or skystone. Incidently, just over two hundred years ago a controversy raged over whether stones could even fall from the sky. Thomas Jefferson stated his position when he said he’d sooner believe a Yankee professor would lie than believe stones could fall from the sky. Other quests have led people in a search for a philosopher’s stone, a substance supposed to be able to transmute base metal to gold, and/or transform uninformed people into enlightened ones. A few have placed bezoar stones into their drinks in the hairball belief that they would absorb poisonous attempts on their life. Some have erected alterstones in a quest for a sacred stone spirituality. Others have consulted runestones, or gazed into scrystones in an effort to see into the future. Most are just content to carry a worrystone or to wear a fairystone or a stone amulet.
Even our language is enriched with meaning by stone metaphor. Many stone terms have taken on additional or double meanings which aid in expressing our intended meaning more quickly. The term “touchstone” as a testing
standard; the wearing of a “millstone around ones neck,” having one’s “nose to the grindstone,” “cornerstones,”
“keystone,” “milestone,” “capstone,” “cold-as-stone,” or having a“heart-of-stone.” All these have meanings beyond
the original lithic language. One may also “stonewall,” be “stone-faced,” or “stony” or be a “stepping stone.” One
can get “stoned,” and be “plastered.” In all these stone references the stone metaphor is based in ancient stone tool
use in building, anchoring, grinding or having the properties of stone. And yet it is a metaphoric idiom, a figure of
speech which conveys our intended meaning.
What is clear is that every stone has a story. Some like the Rosetta Stone serve as anchor points in our understanding of more than one language, and become figures of speech, as well as cultural icons. Others like the Bat Creek Stone remain controversial and all but forgotten. What most do not understand is that all stones are storytelling stones. One just needs to learn how to read them. Varved stones tell of seasonal changes in the distant past. Veined stones tell of immense forces and heat. Stylolites, liesegang bands, dendrites, cross-bedding, folds and fractures all give the stone character and provide information about its formation. Grain and structure, composition and mineralization, like form and function, exist as encoded information that the stone provides to those who have learned to read it. Still others seem to feel ethereal energies in stones more subtle than the profound passion of a pure lithophile. Perhaps this is also an appeal of stones too, that they speak in so many different ways to us still, or perhaps it is because they are deeply under our skin -- in our very bones which are composed of the mineral apatite in a composite with collagen. And yet still they may be numinous to those who are open, and never really abandon the Spirit of Santa Clause and imaginary friends. The elegance of stones is undeniable. One would have to be very obtuse not to be moved by it.
This concludes this wandering ramble among the stones. Yet by using the highlighted terms and other copy in an
internet search, one can open a wider tour of the nature of stones and their enduring allure. There are well over 100
types of stone mentioned here whose stories are much more interesting than the brief treatment they received herein.
Turn a few of them over and enjoy.
Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary!Best Wishes to Robert (Red) and Flora Lee Walker as they celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on 3/06/05.