Back from our trip/ we have proof the Vikings were here before the Templars

[Raparee]

And also were used 1000's of years ago! Although in recent memory, having been an Operative Mason, I don't recall splitting anything that looked like the one posted by FK.

Cheers, Loki

Really? A simple Google image search for "splitting granite" reveals all kinds of examples. Also, the farm I grew up on in western Quebec had stones that look just like FK's, where they had quarried for feldspar in the '30's and '40's.

Nothing has been shown here that suggests anything other than recent activity.

 

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[Raparee]

So eat your words Raparee.

Cheers, Loki

...still waiting for something to be found... You know... something that indicates anything other than the expected settler activity. Still nothing.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Swing over to Lange's Rock Farm (Maplewood/New Germany, NS) and ask about the local rock quarrying. Just a short 16 mile drive from New Ross.



http://www.langesrockfarm.com/include/production.htm

 

[lokiblossom]

And also were used 1000's of years ago! Although in recent memory, having been an Operative Mason, I don't recall splitting anything that looked like the one posted by FK.

Cheers, Loki

As a mason I only split fieldstone for decorative walls and fireplaces, never anything like FK showed.
Cheers, Loki

 

[Smithbrown]

More to the point, are there comparative examples from dated Viking structures or medieval castles?

 

[Dave Rishar]

More to the point, are there comparative examples from dated Viking structures or medieval castles?

As a matter of fact, we have a few examples of Norse fortifications from that time period in Europe. We also have examples of Norse settlements in the New World. What they built and how they built it should not be a mystery, but here we are.

 

[Smithbrown]

No- I meant do with examples of Viking forts and medieval castles with these particular stone marks. Did the Vikings and Medieval folk drill out their stones, and then leave the drill holes in them?

 

[lokiblossom]

As a matter of fact, we have a few examples of Norse fortifications from that time period in Europe. We also have examples of Norse settlements in the New World. What they built and how they built it should not be a mystery, but here we are.

I, myself have always premised a smaller fortress of single story wood construction on a stone foundation. Of course I have also only premised a small contingent of Knights Templar with a few vessels (2 or 3) led by the then Grand Master, at the time the most wanted man in France, Gerard de Villers.
Cheers, Loki

 

[Smithbrown]

So I am assuming no one can produce a Norse or medieval building in Europe with these particular drill marks. So not medieval at all.

 

[Upnorth42]

Swing over to Lange's Rock Farm (Maplewood/New Germany, NS) and ask about the local rock quarrying. Just a short 16 mile drive from New Ross.

View attachment 1471247

Nova Scotia's finest granite quarried at Lange's Rock Farm

I live in the yarmouth area where there are the remains of where someone cut rocks using this technique. I was told they drilled the rocks in the warm part of the year. They would return in the spring after the winter freeze broke the rocks.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

That, or use "feather and tares" (iron chisels with side spreader barbs - aka "splitting wedge") and drive them in along a line until it cracked. That's how they did the canal rocks around here in the 1820's to 1850's.

 

[FinderKeeper]

Ok let me give you more info. So far 15 drilled and split stones have been found at one end of the tunnel system down at Gold River. We have more drilled stones 1,500' at the other end of the tunnel at the Viking site and Vortex. It looks like they moved them through the tunnel. Better than dragging them through the woods. The clay floor would be better to move them. A lot of them are done, finished. Why do all of that work and let them set. This is the only spot we see this kind of drilled stones. Up in the stone query above the Viking site we do not see any drilled stones. there is a lot of stone chips so they did work in this area and drag the stones down to the site or slide them in the snow. We do have stones that are worked smooth, some large and some small with no drill holes on them.

 

[Ryano]

Can you post some photos of this tunnel, please ?

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Vortex? There is a whirlpool on the Gold River?

Ambitious people, those Norse, to dig a 1,500 ft tunnel to make moving stone's easier than just using the trees for sleds (or waiting for snow).

You sure these aren't remnants of the "mini gold rush" of 1861, like at The Ovens, and around the Gold River, NS?

 

[Dave Rishar]

It looks like they moved them through the tunnel. Better than dragging them through the woods.

So you're saying that they built a 1500 foot tunnel in order to make it easier to move rocks?

 

[FinderKeeper]

The Templars had tunnels under a lot of their castle sites in Europe. Roslyn Castle has a 1000' tunnel from castle to church. Tunnels are at Oak Island. We have 120' of clay under this site and they had little to do during winter so they dug tunnels. If you think how deep the snow was back then , it would be easier for them to travel under ground. I did not say they dug the tunnel to move stones. This part of the tunnel was the escape tunnel to Gold River. We tracked this tunnel for years and just now found the other opening. Heritage will not let us dig it open yet and we can not give out its location for reasons.

 

[FinderKeeper]

I am no expert on stones but I think the drill holes would be facing inward of a wall and not shown or the back side. I agree we do not see them in any buildings and I would think it would be hard to smooth the drill holes out , so I would just face that side into the wall. Just my way of doing it.

 

[Smithbrown]

Roslin Castle does not have a tunnel between it and the church- that is just myth. And, moreover, it is not a Templar Castle, but the home of the Sinclair family. I am not sure that any of the Templar properties in Britain would be classed as castles anyway. So which Templar castles definitely have tunnels?

And still waiting for definite dating evidence of the use of stones with drill marks in them.

 

[Pippin]

The Templars had tunnels under a lot of their castle sites in Europe. Roslyn Castle has a 1000' tunnel from castle to church. Tunnels are at Oak Island. We have 120' of clay under this site and they had little to do during winter so they dug tunnels. If you think how deep the snow was back then , it would be easier for them to travel under ground. I did not say they dug the tunnel to move stones. This part of the tunnel was the escape tunnel to Gold River. We tracked this tunnel for years and just now found the other opening. Heritage will not let us dig it open yet and we can not give out its location for reasons.

I'm a bit confused here. Who dug the tunnel, the Vikings or the Templars and who moved the stones through the tunnel? Is the Viking site and the Templar site one and the same, with the Templars building overtop of the Viking one?

Thanks in advance for your answer.

 

[NewAge]

If you think how deep the snow was back then , it would be easier for them to travel under ground.

I can shovel a walking path thru pretty deep snow a whole lot faster then I can dig an under ground tunnel in which to make the same journey.

It is a great idea though instead of shoveling snow to make a path from the house out to my vehicles a couple times a year.Maybe I should dig a tunnel instead.