在19世纪的弗吉尼亚，这些巨大的球被用来开采黄金
在19世纪的弗吉尼亚，这些巨大的球被用来开采黄金
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.
虽然历史充满了关于著名历史人物、地标、地点、建筑和重大事件的趣闻轶事，但它也能让人回忆起一些更奇怪的事情。之所以奇怪，不仅是因为他们被处决了，还因为有些事实已经消失了很久，直到今天仍然是个谜。
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.
其中一个谜团就是大黄蜂球——在弗吉尼亚的一个矿里发现的巨大球状石块。人们真的不知道该怎么理解它们。
History’s full of weird things, including the ‘Hornet Balls’ that are on display in a Virginian museum
历史上有很多奇怪的东西，包括弗吉尼亚博物馆展出的“大黄蜂球”
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.
你可能已经猜到了，美国有着丰富的矿业历史。整个19世纪，这个国家出现了一次又一次的淘金热。在一些如今被遗弃的地方矿业殖民地兴起并繁荣，但现在仅仅是曾经的外壳。
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，门罗公园和金矿开采营博物馆在弗吉尼亚州的金脉开放，以展示该州令人印象深刻的金矿开采历史。公园本身并不是一个矿场，但是在这个县可以发现18个以上的废弃矿场。
The Gold Mining Camp Museum found these a while back in a mine around a mile away from its premises
金矿开采营博物馆在一英里外的一个矿场发现了这些
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，它所做的是试图模仿20世纪初的采矿营地，拥有一个真正的工棚、一个食堂和一个符合当时弗吉尼亚矿山审美的化验办公室。
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.
其中一件展品是一对采矿手工艺品，最近吸引了互联网的关注——从离公园大约一英里远的Liberty矿废墟中抢救出来的巨大黄蜂球。
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.
具体来说，这些巨大的空心球体是由钢筋混凝土粘在铁网框架上建造的。他们身高7英尺，比你的平均身高高出1.5英尺，周长超过20英尺。每个球重约7吨。
While the name and their purpose are a mystery, it is believed they were used to separate gold from rock
虽然这个名字和它们的用途是一个谜，但人们相信它们是用来从岩石中分离黄金的
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.
现在，它们的用途有点神秘。由于它们是在一个废弃的矿井中被发现和找回来的，人们相信它们肯定是某种矿山工具。据推测，它们曾被用作矿石破碎机，从岩石中剥离黄金。
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，历史学家们猜测，之所以叫它是因为它和马蜂窝很像，或者是因为它们在使用时发出嗡嗡声
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.
从那时起，采矿业走过了漫长的道路。今天，我们在采矿时大部分使用重型机械，而不依赖名字奇怪的工具。但它确实是一段不应该被遗忘的离奇的矿业历史，如果不是因为它的历史价值，至少是因为它的名字。
Needless to say, some internauts found this discovery rather funny because of the name alone
更不用说，仅仅因为这个名字，一些网友就觉得这个发现很有趣
Image credits: Sydney Rose
