Natural Wonders

(image by Starkrusher May 22, 2015)

Every week since I moved to Vancouver Island, I am discovering new things. At first glance, this town looks ugly as you drive along the highway there is a string of strip malls that does nothing for the eye. But as soon as you get off the main road, there are parks, lakes and hidden beaches at every turn.

This week I discovered a small beach near an abandoned coal mine. All that remained were the arbutus wooden pylons in the water where they loaded coal into boats. Further along this beach I found some flat outcropping of rocks with mysteriously perfect smooth holes in them. They were about three inches deep and six inches wide, just big enough to hide a treasure in.

I immediately wondered how these holes got there. Were they from natural erosion or were they man-made? When I got home, I posted them to my Twitter page and received a lot of interesting responses. It turns out they are called bedrock mortars and were created by our local First Nations people who used a pestle to crush plants, such as acorns, into flour. Fascinating.

However, most of the research on these seems to have come from the central United States, from the tribes who lived along riverbanks. I didn’t see anything about oceanside mortars. I have a writer friend who specializes in First Nations natural history research, so I am passing this along to her now. She also belongs to the local historical society so they can possibly erect a plaque explaining this to passers-by.

I love exploring my new surroundings. Have you ever discovered a natural wonder in your own area? Please subscribe / comment below.