if not a cannon ball, then what?

[ho2cultcha]

i dug this up in my backyard in the oldest colonial section of oakland, ca [about 2 blocks from the peralta adobe] a while back and assumed that it was a cannonball. then i read throught that AMAZING cannonball site here on treasurenet, and read where cannonballs are always solidly round and not smooshed like this one is. so what can it be then? it's 3" across, 2" tall and weighs 2 and 3/4 lbs.

 

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[Tony in SC]

could have come from a ball mill, for crushing ore? Tony

 

[Patfoundit]

I'm no expert but it looks like a stone that was used to grind corn into paste. Usually used with a larger stone with a shallow depression. I have seen several in some of the old colonial museums. What is the Indian or Spanish history for the area?

 

[Gunrunner61]

I'll go with the grinding gall guess looks to fit HH

 

[nsdq]

shot put ?

 

[Terry Soloman]

could have come from a ball mill, for crushing ore? Tony

Bingo! We find them in Arizona as well around old gold mines.

 

[ABruce]

Might be a commercial fishing net weight.

 

[kc10bull]

Lol, way to lite for a shot put!!!!

 

[ho2cultcha]

it's very heavy - solid iron. it doesn't look like any of the balls from a ball mill i've seen. they are all pretty round and have seams - at least the ones i found on the net. my neighborhood is where the original adobe casa was for the whole east bay area - back in the 1700s - before the bay area was split up between peralta's sons. the off-round, but very uniform feel to the ball has me confused as to what it was. there's no sign of a seam or an attachment. thanks for your input.