Near the fishing village of Moeraki in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand, huge round stones - Moeraki Boulders - are scattered along Koekohe Beach. In total, on the territory with a length of 300 meters, there are about a hundred of these mysterious balls with a diameter of 0.5 to 2.2 meters.
Some of the stone spheres lie on the beach, others are located in the sea, some of them have split into pieces over the years. The surface of the balls is heterogeneous: some are absolutely smooth, others are rough with patterns and almost all of them are cracked.
The first to describe and make sketches of the mysterious stones in 1848 was explorer Walter Mantell. These sketches are kept at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington.
During the research, it was found that the boulders of Moeraki are composed of sand, clay and silt, firmly cemented with calcite. The degree of cementation inside the boulders is relatively small and increases closer to their outer surface.
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There are many different versions explaining the origin and uses of these round stones.
According to scientists and researchers, the formation of boulders began in the Paleocene of the Cenozoic era (65.5 - 56 million years ago). The bulk of the boulders formed, presumably near the surface of the seabed, of black clay and sea mud. This, in particular, is indicated by the presence of stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon, as well as magnesium and iron in the boulders. Their spherical shape indicates that the calcium source was massively distributed in suspended liquid streams.
After the coalescence of rocks and minerals, cracks, known as "septaria", formed in the surface. The cracks began to fill with calcite, dolomite and quartz. Subsequently, the process of cementation of the surface of the stones was completed with the help of fresh water when the sea level dropped. The formation of each of the Moeraki boulders, according to scientists, took 4-5.5 million years.
According to the legend of the Maori tribe, the Moeraki boulders are nothing more than petrified pumpkins, potatoes, and baskets of food that poured onto the shore after the crash of the mythical Arai-te-uru canoe. The canoe skidded into the shallow rocky waters of the Shag Point, where it lost some of its supplies. Then the canoe washed ashore on Koekohe Beach, where a high rocky promontory rises, into which the captain's body has turned.
Paranormal researchers believe that the boulders are extraterrestrial capsules left by aliens. Perhaps they considered the Earth too harsh planet and escaped in flight on the surviving ships.
Similar stone spheres in various modifications are found all over the globe: in Costa Rica, Israel, USA, Canada, Russia. Even in New Zealand, they are in two more places - these are the "Koutu boulders" on the North Island near the city of the same name and the "Katiki boulders" on the Shag coast, 12 miles from Moeraki. The boulders of Katika are more diverse in shape: there are flat, board-like, oval) and are known for the bones of mosasaurs and plesiosaurs found in them.