By Tim Binnall
A renovation project at a marketplace in Kenya came to a sudden stop when workers unearthed a rather curious concrete cross. The puzzling find was reportedly made at the bustling City Market in Nairobi a few weeks ago as a construction crew was in the process of replacing a portion of the floor. The otherwise routine refurbishing of the building took a surprising turn when they began digging and discovered the odd cross that had been buried in the ground.
The discovery has caused something of a stir among vendors at the marketplace as some have expressed concern that the crucifix-shaped stone slab could be an indication that the location may have once been a graveyard. "I have received calls from more than ten clients who are asking why some people were buried at the market," lamented butcher Joseph Otieno, who sells his wares at the location, "some are saying it is a cult symbol. However, some are asking if there could be treasure hidden underneath the cross."
Fortunately, it would seem that the mystery surrounding the discovery has already been solved as the workers who found the cross contacted the National Museums of Kenya, which dispatched a team of archaeologists to examine the strange stone slab. "What we found is that it is made of solid granite," revealed lead researcher Dr. Emmanuel Ndiema, "and beneath it, there is another heavy concrete layer reinforced with heavy metal." Based on their analysis, which included the discovery of a drainage system connected to the weird object, the team was able to offer a rather prosaic explanation,
The director of Sites and Monuments for the National Museums of Kenya, Purity Kirura, told reporters that the archaeologists determined that the discovery was actually a massive and decades-old washing basin that had been reinforced with concrete in the shape of a cross and, in later years, buried because it was too big to move. She posited that it was probably not a religious symbol because when such objects are found "either they are standing upright and even the ones which are on the ground are not as huge."