Although different things in the world have been found in different places, accurate information about the origin and usage have remained a mystery for ages, even today. The same is true of giant spherical hornet balls found in a mine in Virginia.
These two large spherical hornet balls can be seen in the garden of Gold Mining Camp Museum at Monroe Park, Goldvein, Virginia and found from the Liberty Mine ruins which is about a mile away from the park. These hornet balls are about seven feet tall and more than 20 feet in circumference. Also, they each weigh more than 7 tons. These look like medieval flammable tools, made of hollow ball iron and concrete attached to a mesh frame.
Exactly what was done using these balls has not yet been discovered even though they were found from a mining site. However, it is believed that these crushed ore into pebbles and separated the gold from rock. These appeared to be rotated around an axis by using horse or steam power. There are opinions that inside these balls as to whether the ore was pulverized or crushed underneath.
Further, there are various theories as to the origin of the name of these balls, However, some people think that they got this name because of the noise made when the balls roll and also there was a resemblance to hornets or wasp nests. However, this name is very unique to Virginia.
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