What are these strange things we found in the woods?

August 30, 2015 10:41 AM

Exploring some overgrown woods in London, we discovered several of these thingummies. They were found near what looks like the remains of bomb shelters from WW2. Any ideas what they might be?
posted by emilyw to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

They look to me like the corroded innards of some zinc-carbon batteries.
posted by pipeski at 11:56 AM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I agree that they somewhat look like zinc-carbon batteries from WW2 where the outside case of zinc has totally corroded away, but the zinc rod positive terminal did not stick out so far and had a brass metal cap on the end.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc%E2%80%93carbon_battery
posted by lungtaworld at 12:30 PM on August 30, 2015

I think batteries too. You often find them on the Thames foreshore looking like that.
posted by Helga-woo at 3:44 PM on August 30, 2015