hi dan! better post that on what the heck is it . gave me a site lead too. thanx. i have an old lime kiln and quarry about 12 miles from here to check out. let us know what them things are. Bill
My recollection of this process is a bit dusty, but I believe this process extracts metal from a lead compound. The lead is absorbed by the a bone/ash material in the kiln and the resulting bead is a gold alloy as the lead usually contains silver which combines with the gold during the process.
DanB, let us know the specifics and how far off I am with the stage you have pictured. Thanks!