Mullaloo Beach Inscription.
The slab reported and photographed in 1956 is about 2 meters from it's previous location, and has been truncated thru the inscription by impact blows, having been struck in at least 2 places, 40 - 50 cm;s apart. The slab, at least 50cm thick in places, shows distinctive layering parallel to its upper surface, marked by color and grain characteristics. One impact point can be determined exactly from some distinctive fissures and the deeply concave fracture surface centered on it. The other is not so clearly indicated, having resulted in a second fracture facet, broadly concave, but a 10cm long part of the bruised edge central to the concavity below offers the most likely site.
In addition to this fairly conclusive evidence, there are several letters missing of the original inscription. Over over much of the area in their vicinity, the surface is slightly lighter and smoother as if it had been rubbed or hammered. Clearly bruising has effaced these letters. The sandstone layer is surprisingly well consolidated, and the average grain size of 1-2mm has determined a relief of 1-2mm (from the top of the remaining grains to the cement erosion front between the grains). The grains consist primarily of well rounded, sometimes frosted quartz grains and occasional small gastropod or coral remains. At the edge of the smoothened areas, form with the fracture facet occurs a conchoidal fracture scar of about 5cm length, and within it there are at least four distinctly fractured quartz grains, all in close vicinity. At conchoidal fracture scar of about 5 cm length and within it, there are at least four distinctly fractured quartz grains, all in close vicinity. At magnification of 80x, their edges remain quite sharp, being of wane widths of only 1 or 2 microns.
A search for fractured grains in the gropopves of the 3 remaining letters (V,E,D, of VERGILDET DRAEK 16??) locates 2 in the D, which are measured, and several more, at least 4 in the V. Non are at this stage located in the E although a more thorough search is warranted. All fractures exhibit distinctive mico-wanes, which in all cases are visible under the magnifying glass (10x). zmeasurements are made on the two grains in the letter D. Particularly the first grain, in the straight part of the groove, is eminently suitable for micro-erosion analysis. It has been truncated across it's top, paralell to the surface, so that the sub spherical grain bears a dish shaped, slightly concave and roughly circular scar. Its edge which ranges in angle from c. 90 degrees, to 110 degrees, forms a continuous wane , from which the following reliable size estimates are secured: 10,11,11,10,12,10,12,12,12,12,14,12,12,10,12 microns.
The second grain in letter D , from its bottom (right way up) is of a long edge on a grain in a sidewall of the groove that has been truncated at right angle to the surface. The edge is harder to see (the truncating vertical surface is inaccessible to to microscopic examination), but the following estimates were made of the wane: 12,11,10,10,10,12, microns.
What renders the two results particularly compelling is that the several quartz fracture edges in the letter V all exhibit similar development in their micro-wanes , all apparently in the 10 - 15 micron range. Even in the obviously moist and erosive, relatively high-pH environment of this site, such extensive wane formation cannot possibly be attributed to a time period of 60 years or so. Moreover the wane development in grains fractured, presumably in 1956 or soon thereafter, is only a fraction of that seen in the inscription. It is in th eorder of 1/10th to 1/6th of the age of the immediately adjacent inscription. It must therefore be concluded that the inscription could not possibly be of the 20th century and an age of the 19th century was also highly unlikely. The most obvious and parsimonious conclusion is that its purported age is indeed it's true age!.
Nearby in in the central part of another, somewhat larger flat slab about 5 meters away (but only 3 meters from where the first inscription was discovered in 1956), is a further marking which might be a 'P' or an incomplete 'R'. It too has grains with fractures, and because it is of the same size, groove morphology and groove dimensions, it was probably made at the same time. Although the inscriptions are badly weathered, it is obvious that they were made with steel tools, and it is apparent that the maker was well versed in making such letters in stone, or alternately took considerable care in the work.
The notion of a fake is contradicted by the location (far south of the wreck site c,80km's?) and the lack of sound motivation. A future investigation needs to focus particularly on the nature of the blackish material that evenly covers both the inscriptions grooves and the UN-damaged surrounding surfaces, and which is totally lacking on the damaged areas and the impact fractures that occurred in or after 1956. The accretionary material is most probably of organic nature, rather thin and discontinuous, but clearly separates the pre 1956, from the post 1956 surface aspects.
