Strange find today!

[fwcrawford]

My buddy and I found an old home site back in January and decided to try searching
around it for a while before the rains came.
Pictured is what I believe to be an old well that is rock lined or possibly and old privy hole.
It is about 5 feet deep and about 25 to 30 inches in diameter.
I don't see how they were able to line it with such a small diameter.
Anyhow, I found cube shaped piece of lead with a hole in the middle of it and was wondering if someone
knew what it could have been used for.
The corners have been shaved off on all sides and it is about 1 5/8" square.
I don't know if this dates back to the house site or was later placed there, but it was about 10 inches deep.
We didn't find any zinc lids at all and only found 2 shotgun shells which may indicate that the site is quite old.
Not much left except for some remnents of a foundation.
I did find a lockbox for a door or chest which I thought was strange given how far back in the woods this site is.
Hopefully someone can give me some ideas as to the use of the lead item.
Thanks for looking and any help is greatly appreciated,
Felix

 

[Larry (IL)]

My guess is a counter weight for a bucket and pulley system for the well........

 

[Canewrap]

A bit small for a bucket counter weight. My guess is it was originally a loom weight that got tossed out with the trash.

 

[fenian13]

I think it may have been used to help sink the edge of the water well bucket to assist filling. Slid down the rope and maybe knotted so it was close to the bucket handle.
.
Otherwise the bucket which was most likely wood may have had too much buoyancy to fill itself if just dropped into the water.

Just my 2-cent guess.

 

[capt. jas.]

My uncle used to have a similar set-up to drop the side of the pail into water for filling.