Object Literature
Stalagmites, some of the most familiar cave formations, are best known as upward-growing, massive calcite mounds deposited from drip water. The largest known stalagmite in the world is 62.2 metres (204 ft) high and is located in the cave of Cueva Martin Infierno, Cuba.
It can take a very long time for most to form, they usually grow anywhere between a quarter-inch and an inch every century with some over 190,000 years old. As an average growth rate of ½ an inch for every 100 years, this makes this particular specimen (very approximately) 7,100 years old, so it would have started to form at around the time when such goings on as were happening above ground as the domestication of the horse and for the domestication of the chicken and invention of the potter’s wheel.
Nature’s own great sculptural masterpiece.