From a pliosaur skeleton now known to Australian museumgoers as Eric to the basalt that built Robert Smithson’s almighty Spiral Jetty, these are stones that really speak
Stones have shaped culture for as long as culture has existed. Their uncanny shape has led us to tell stories – of trolls disguised as boulders, of maidens cursed for dancing on the sabbath, of a snake-haired woman whose eyes petrified. They have provided us with tools, from axe heads to the rare minerals used in camera phones. And they have served as signifiers of power and wealth, often derived in turn from mines and the trade routes that distribute their riches.
We think of stone as something stable and unmoving, but that’s just a matter of the timescale by which you look at things. My new book, Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones, contains 60 stories, each about a different stone. Here are 10 memorable rocks that roll across its pages …
