Help me identify this symbol?

May 27, 2013 6:42 PM

I found this rock by some train tracks today. The rock could be from anywhere since the rock beds for the tracks are often laid with rocks shipped in from everywhere. A Google search hasn't been much help yet. Anyone?
posted by SarahBellum to Society & Culture (4 answers total)

I think it's a hobo symbol of some sort, which makes sense if it's from train tracks. It sort of resembles the "danger" sign.
posted by juniperesque at 6:58 PM on May 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

Why are you convinced it is a symbol? Could it not be a rock that was scratched without (intentional) human involvement?

From the pic, it doesn't look as if this is indisputably a symbol.
posted by Unified Theory at 8:58 PM on May 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

I agree this resembles a version of the "danger" or, alternately, "officer of the law" symbol -- which had several variants involving a verticle and several horizontal marks of different length. Examples of both here, a different variant of hte latter here. I wonder if it's worn (unlikely to me judging by the shape) or just poorly marked to begin with.

Without a real provenance or attestation, of course, we're just speculating, but I think there's a good chance this is a real example.
posted by dhartung at 1:42 AM on May 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Unified Theory: It's written on the rock in some sort of resin or tar.
posted by SarahBellum at 8:17 AM on May 28, 2013