在19世紀的弗吉尼亞，這些巨大的球被用來開采黃金

在19世紀的弗吉尼亞，這些巨大的球被用來開采黃金

While history is chock-full of interesting tidbits of knowledge on famous historical figures, landmarks and locations, buildings, and significant events, it recalls some stranger things as well. Strange not only because of their execution, but because some facts were lost to the ages and remain a mystery to this day.

雖然歷史充滿了關于著名歷史人物、地標、地點、建筑和重大事件的趣聞軼事，但它也能讓人回憶起一些更奇怪的事情。之所以奇怪，不僅是因為他們被處決了，還因為有些事實已經消失了很久，直到今天仍然是個謎。

One such mystery is the Hornet Balls—gigantic spherical boulders that were found in one of the mines in Virginia. And people don’t really know what to make of them.

其中一個謎團就是大黃蜂球——在弗吉尼亞的一個礦里發(fā)現(xiàn)的巨大球狀石塊。人們真的不知道該怎么理解它們。

History’s full of weird things, including the ‘Hornet Balls’ that are on display in a Virginian museum

歷史上有很多奇怪的東西，包括弗吉尼亞博物館展出的“大黃蜂球”

As you might have guessed, the US has a rich mining history. Throughout the 19th century, there was gold rush after gold rush in the country. Mining colonies rose and thrived in random locations that today are abandoned, mere husks of what once was.

你可能已經猜到了，美國有著豐富的礦業(yè)歷史。整個19世紀，這個國家出現(xiàn)了一次又一次的淘金熱。在一些如今被遺棄的地方礦業(yè)殖民地興起并繁榮，但現(xiàn)在僅僅是曾經的外殼。

So, in 1998, the Monroe Park and the Gold Mining Camp Museum opened its doors in Goldvein, Virginia to show off the state’s impressive gold mining history. The park itself is not a mining site, but over 18 abandoned mines can be found in the county.

因此，在1998年，門羅公園和金礦開采營博物館在弗吉尼亞州的金脈開放，以展示該州令人印象深刻的金礦開采歷史。公園本身并不是一個礦場，但是在這個縣可以發(fā)現(xiàn)18個以上的廢棄礦場。

The Gold Mining Camp Museum found these a while back in a mine around a mile away from its premises

金礦開采營博物館在一英里外的一個礦場發(fā)現(xiàn)了這些

What it does do, however, is try to mimic a mining camp from the early 1900s by having an authentic bunkhouse, a mess hall, and an assay office following the Virginian mine aesthetic of the times.

然而，它所做的是試圖模仿20世紀初的采礦營地，擁有一個真正的工棚、一個食堂和一個符合當時弗吉尼亞礦山審美的化驗辦公室。

One of its exhibits, namely a pair of mining artifacts, have been drawing the internet’s fancy recently—massive Hornet Balls that were salvaged from the Liberty Mine ruins that are around a mile away from the park.

其中一件展品是一對采礦手工藝品，最近吸引了互聯(lián)網的關注——從離公園大約一英里遠的Liberty礦廢墟中搶救出來的巨大黃蜂球。

Specifically, these are gigantic hollow spheres that are built from reinforced concrete pasted on an iron mesh frame. They measure at 7 feet tall, about a foot and a half more than your average Joe, and over 20 feet in circumference. Each ball weighs in at around 7 tons.

具體來說，這些巨大的空心球體是由鋼筋混凝土粘在鐵網框架上建造的。他們身高7英尺，比你的平均身高高出1.5英尺，周長超過20英尺。每個球重約7噸。

While the name and their purpose are a mystery, it is believed they were used to separate gold from rock

雖然這個名字和它們的用途是一個謎，但人們相信它們是用來從巖石中分離黃金的

Now, what they were used for is a bit of a mystery. Since they were found and retrieved from an abandoned mine, it is believed that they were certainly some sort of mine implements. It is speculated that they were used as ore crushers to break off gold from the rock.

現(xiàn)在，它們的用途有點神秘。由于它們是在一個廢棄的礦井中被發(fā)現(xiàn)和找回來的，人們相信它們肯定是某種礦山工具。據(jù)推測，它們曾被用作礦石破碎機，從巖石中剝離黃金。

As for the name, historians speculate they’re called that because of the resemblance to a hornet nest or because they make a buzzing sound when in use

至于它的名字，歷史學家們猜測，之所以叫它是因為它和馬蜂窩很像，或者是因為它們在使用時發(fā)出嗡嗡聲

Now, mining has come a long way since then. Today, we use heavy machinery for the most part when it comes to mining and don’t rely on strangely named implements. But it is surely a bizarre bit of mining history that shouldn’t be forgotten, if not for the historical value, then at least for the name.

從那時起，采礦業(yè)走過了漫長的道路。今天，我們在采礦時大部分使用重型機械，而不依賴名字奇怪的工具。但它確實是一段不應該被遺忘的離奇的礦業(yè)歷史，如果不是因為它的歷史價值，至少是因為它的名字。

Needless to say, some internauts found this discovery rather funny because of the name alone

更不用說，僅僅因為這個名字，一些網友就覺得這個發(fā)現(xiàn)很有趣

Image credits: Sydney Rose