LITHIC OLYMPICS

DRY STONE WALLING COMPETITION
Twelve dry stone wallers will each build an 8 foot arc of a circular freestanding wall three feet tall, two feet wide at base, a foot wide at top. Contestants will be judged on competence, style and adherence to the principles of dry stone walling.

STONE CUTTING COMPETITION
Carving spheres has long been a traditional spare time activity for stone cutters and masons. The task will be to carve a sphere from a cube. The criteria on which the carvers will be judged will be: Technique, Speed, Precision.

STONE BOWLING
The Greeks had a game, Spheristics, which used stone balls; the objective was to throw them as far as possible. Presumably this was the origin of the contemporary "shot put."

The Romans, history reports, introduced the concept of the 'pilot' or target ball with the objective of trying to get as close as possible to it. Lithobolos is a Roman word meaning "stone thrower." These were catapaults, a type of artillery and the smallest of the (stone) artillery balls used is said to have weighed about 10 pounds. It is believed these were used in bowling games. After the Romans the stone balls were replaced by wooden ones. The Gauls, who had learned the game from the Roman soldiers and sailors, weighted –and armored– the balls by hammering nails into them. This studded version became the steel petanque ball played by the French and Spanish today.

The Lithobolos balls (lithoboli?) that will be used in our adaptation of the ancient game are granite spheres about five and a half inches in diameter and weigh about 10 pounds. The target ball or ORB should be less than half the size of a lithobolos. A billiard ball would be ideal.

The court is about 100 feet (30 meters) long, longer than either a petanque or a bocce court (but the entire length need not be used).

The rules are similar to bocce. The orb is thrown down the court anywhere from forty to ninety feet. The player (or team) that threw the target ball bowls first, then the other player or team will bowl. Whichever player or team is farther from the orb at the end of this first round is obliged to bowl again and, if it fails to get closer than the opponents’ ball, must bowl again, and again if necessary, until it does get closer (at which point the other team must bowl again) or until it runs out of balls. When a team gets a ball closer, it steps aside and lets the other team roll. The other team throws until it beats (not ties) the opposing ball. This continues until both teams have used all their bocce balls.

STONE THROWING
For distance and
For accuracy, contestants will throw stones at a target.

STONE BALANCING
Criteria for judgment will be degree of difficulty and artistry.

LEVERAGE
A “Doubles” event. A team of two contestants using pry bars will attempt to move a large stone a certain distance in the shortest time.

WHEELBARROW STEEPLECHASE
This is a race and the winner will be the one who completes the course in the shortest time.