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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:16 am Post Subject: Gisborne Cannonball
A friend from my hometown in Gisborne alterted me to this the other day...
From the Gisborne Herald March 26th...
Quote:
WHAT appears to be a cannon ball found at Sponge Bay could have a bearing on New Zealand's history.
Gisborne archaeologist Gordon Jackman is not committing himself until scientific testing is completed, but agrees the find is at the very least intriguing.
The large ball was found by workmen carrying out excavations at a residential development at Sponge Bay.
The large ball has been taken to Auckland University by Dame Anne Salmond for further testing.
She happened to be in town last weekend when the ball was discovered.
Mr Jackman has carried out a dig and discovered a disturbed soil horizon which indicates the ball came in from the direction of Poverty Bay at a shallow trajectory.
"With munitions the size of this, the area the ball was found is in the range of the bay but, again, there's a lot of testing and background work to be done."
Although visibly excited by the find, he was reluctant to speculate on the origins of the ball or even what it was. There is no record of a cannon this size being fired in Poverty Bay, and the results of testing are being keenly awaited.
"It's an iron ball. It's big, it arrived sideways, that's the story. Everything else is conjecture.
"It is extraordinary though -- a one-in-a-million chance to find it -- because they were not intending to dig as deep as it was. The digger operator thought it was a boulder at first."
The disturbance of the soil horizon that revealed the direction the ball entered the ground was another chance discovery, he said.
"It was not until I got home and looked at the photos that I spotted it -- it was a nice surprise.
"What is important here is not only the ball, but that we also have the archaeological record of where the ball came from and when it arrived."
