Stone Ball for comments

[broadaxe]

Originally Posted by Philip

Could it also be a catapult projectile as well as a cannonball? The use of mechanical artillery and cannons did overlap for awhile in the late Middle Ages. Or the sphere could be a lot older than that and possibly date from Byzantine or Roman times...

Catapult projectiles are much less dressed, they show lots of dimples and bumps, as they don't have to go through a barrel.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by broadaxe

Catapult projectiles are much less dressed, they show lots of dimples and bumps, as they don't have to go through a barrel.

... Like in post #7 above. However in certain contexts stone cannon balls were not that perfect. Minding that, when masons went with armies and had to maintain stocks while in field campaign, those didn't come out necessarily perfect. That was the main reason to recast cannons every (circa)100 shots; the barrels were destroyed by the rough load.
For what is worth, here is how Rainer Dahehnardt describes some stone balls (pelouros) in his collection.
The pair on the left are in marble, which were used in small navy 'berços' ; the pair on the right are in granite and were ammo for gross bombards.


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[TheCollector]

Excellent reading , I'm always learning.

So the big question, how sure are we it's quite old and made as a projectile ?
Happy to post more pics if needed

[fernando]

The trillion $ question .

[fernando]

I guess those (more) elected for genuinity are those rescued from sea wrecks; providing the source that cites them is fully reliable *. Nobody will sink ordinary stone spheres down in the ocean to make them old; something they do by burying them under the back yard earth, preferably near acid fruit trees.

*
Like those sources that offer cannons as always Portuguese .

[broadaxe]

Originally Posted by fernando

... Like in post #7 above. However in certain contexts stone cannon balls were not that perfect. Minding that, when masons went with armies and had to maintain stocks while in field campaign, those didn't come out necessarily perfect. That was the main reason to recast cannons every (circa)100 shots; the barrels were destroyed by the rough load.
For what is worth, here is how Rainer Dahehnardt describes some stone balls (pelouros) in his collection.
The pair on the left are in marble, which were used in small navy 'berços' ; the pair on the right are in granite and were ammo for gross bombards.


.

I agree, the problem is that non-spherical projectile, shot from a cannon, being more hurled than actually shot, loosing range, power and precision.

[fernando]

Indeed.