Thunderstone (folklore)

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A thunderstone is an apparently worked stone object - often wedge-shaped, like an axe blade - alleged to have fallen from the sky. Tales of thunderstones are found in many cultures around the world, from Greece to China, and are often associated with a thunder god.

In recent times, it is known that these objects are often the result of a lightning strike into the the ground. Under the enormous heat induced by the lightning, sand in the soil melts into a solid block of silica. This is why "thunderstones" in a desert tend to be larger and more cylindrical, whereas in grassland they are often shaped like a blade and are significantly thinner.

They are also known as thunderaxes, storm stones, sky arrows, thunderbolts, lightning stones, sky axes, and thunder teeth. In Brazil, a thunderstone is known as a raio ("lightning flash").

[edit] See also

• Meteors
• Star Jelly
• Perkwunos
• Mjolnir
• Ukonkirves
• Battle-axe culture
• Celt (tool)

[edit] References

• Blinkenberg, Christian Srensen. The Thunder Weapon in Religion and Folklore. Cambridge University Press, 1911. pg. 100.
• Fort, Charles. The Book of the Damned. 1919. Chapter 8.
• Tyler, Edward Burnett. Primitive Culture. 1871. v.2, pgs. 237-9.