Every now and again, something washes up on shore that grabs your attention. Maybe it’s a piece of flowerstone. Or some BC jade. Someone even found a note in a bottle.
But other times, something washes up and you have no idea what it is.
That’s what happened to Steve Latreille in the Vancouver Island Rockhounds Facebook group. He snapped this picture in June 2022 and shared it with a question:
“Donut rock or ancient fishing gear 
?”
Lots of folks wanted it to be a donut. Who wouldn’t want an ancient stale donut with barnacle sprinkles? Or an everything bagel with sand for spice?
But others had more serious guesses. What were the top two?
Mill or grind stone
Round mill and grind stones have been used for thousands of years to grind grain and other materials. But generally they are more like a cylinder. The rock is shaped more like a truck tire than a bike tire so there’s lots of contact between the stone and whatever it’s sitting on.
Without a side view of the rock, it’s hard to tell whether the surface is flat or curved.
Fishing weight
Lots of people chimed in to say this is a weight for a fishing net, and was probably made by Indigenous folks in the region.
These weights were generally designed more like bike tires than truck tires. Or like a donut, where the outer and inner circles are curved instead of flat.
One user suggested returning the object to the Qualicum First Nation, as there’s always something to be learned from historical artifacts.
Do you have other guesses for what this could be? Some thought it could be a hag stone that is used to ward off evil spirits. There were even some less family-friendly guesses, but we won’t repeat those here!
VanIsle is full of interesting treasures to be found, both on the shore and inland. Have you found any mysteries lately?
