MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Cathy]

A spider plague , about to happen?

[Stanley]

No Cathy, they are smooth quartz pebbles.

[Tizer]

That ancient people lived there. They often collected quartz pebbles.

[Cathy]

The Aztec people. Aztec Pebble.

They look similar to decor pebbles that you can buy today for pot plant and garden uses.

[Stanley]

Peter is on the right track. What I am after is a specific instance where gifts of the pure white pebbles came together. It is so specific it is used as a marker by archaeologists.

[Tizer]

The death of a tribal leader?

[Stanley]

No but you are getting very close Peter. Clue, I have been looking for it in Barlick for years!

[PanBiker]

Site of a well?

[Stanley]

Everyone is so close! Another clue, wells were where spiritual activity was focussed from very early times. Think of another such place or object.

[chinatyke]

No but you are getting very close Peter. Clue, I have been looking for it in Barlick for years!

Site of a monastery?

[Tizer]

Springs, such as Blick Mead near Stonehenge. That spring has red-coloured stones but when you take them out of the water they lose the colour after a while. It's due to a bacterial or algal pigment on the surface.

[Stanley]

This one is too vague. China is closest because he homed in on religion. What I had in mind was that it looks as though our early ancestors, both Pagan and Christian, attributed special properties to rounded white quartz pebbles. They have been found in hut sites and personal possessions. When a significant spiritual object like a cross or an early church was being erected they took their pebbles and made a gift of any powers they possessed by putting them in foundations. Hence, any archaeologist who finds such a concentration when digging is alerted to the fact that they may be on a religious site.
This is particularly true of very early churches. I've never heard of it being connected to monasteries China, I think by that time they had been relegated to the realms of superstition.
Sorry about that one, it was too complicated!

[Stanley]

What is it?

[Cathy]

Very clean, is it surgical?

[chinatyke]

Looks like it would clamp on the kitchen table. Small butter churner?

[Stanley]

Spot on Cathy, but what's it for?
Again China, you're right but no it isn't for churning butter.

[Cathy]

Can’t think of anything, but I’ll say brain surgery.

[Stanley]

You're in the right field Cathy but nothing as complicated as that.

[PanBiker]

Early ear syringe?

[Big Kev]

Cleaning out your ears?

[Tizer]

Blood letting?

[Stanley]

Sorry Peter but no. Ian and Kev have got it. Nobody seems quite certain about its use but it's an 'Earoscope' . See this LINK.
Next one?

[Tizer]

I suspect the earoscope was a money-making scam - remember the Yeovil man who made millions worldwide selling an empty box that he claimed was a bomb detector? The world is full of gullible people!

Now for something different. What's this and where did it come from?

[PanBiker]

I was going to sat Ambergris produced by Sperm Whales but it's the wrong colour. Looks to be something that is highly magnified.

[Marilyn]

My God...I hate to think...