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Famous
Rocks
There are a lot of famous rocks in the world. We have collected some of
them here. To be included a rock must have some special significance and
be considered important to many people. The rock used to mark the place
of burial of your first pet goldfish (the one that died right away) does
not count.
Some famous rocks (in no particular order) are:
The Rosetta stone
Details:
Height: 114.4 cm (max.)
Width: 72.3 cm
Thickness: 27.9 cm
The rosetta stone is a "slab" of black basalt dating from 196 BC.
and inscribed by the ancient Egyptians praising their king Ptolemy
V. It was discovered by Napoleon's troops in 1799 near the seaside
town of Rosetta in lower Egypt. The inscription is written on the
stone three times, once in hieroglyphic, once in demotic, and once
in Greek. From this starting point a generation of Egyptologists eventually
managed to read most everything that remains of the Egyptians' ancient
writings.
It now has a permanent home in the British
Museum in London. |
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ALH 84001
Details:
Described as roughly potato sized.
A rock that originates from Mars. Discovered in the Allan Hills of
Antarctica in 1984, this rock was originally considered to be pretty
ordinary chuck of rock. In 1996 after it was examined closely NASA
scientists had a small coming out party for the rock, claiming it
contained evidence of extra-terrestrial life. It is believed to contain
mineralized structures originating from fossilized, primitive bacteria-like
organisms. This spectacular finding didn't go unchallenged for long,
and the potato-size meteorite has been at the center of controversy
ever since. |
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Ka'aba
Details:
The Ka'aba is not really a rock. It is a construction containing a
rock. The meteorite Hadsjar al Aswad is cemented in a wall of the
Ka'aba, located in the holy Islamic city, Mecca. Set in silver in
the east corner of the Ka'aba, some four feet above ground level,
is the "Black Stone". |
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Stonehenge
Details: Big.
Stonehenge is also not really a rock. It is a collection of rocks. |
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The Face on Mars
Details: Big.
The famous face on Mars formation is claimed by some to be evidence of a past civilization on Mars.
First photographed by NASA's Viking 1 orbiter in 1976, later photographs from Mars Global Surveyor (2001) show more detail that take away some, if not all, of the mystery. |
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Some more information about famous rocks can be found in this about.com article: Now Let Us Praise Famous Stones. It has some interesting details about the Ka'aba and the Blarney Stone.
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