Lodestone, also spelled loadstone, is a hard black rock that exhibits magnetic properties. It is made of the mineral magnetite.
According to an ancient Greek legend, lodestone was discovered by a shepherd who noticed that the iron nails in his boots and the iron tip of his staff clung to the rock over which he was walking. The earliest record of production of lodestone is from an ancient region in Asia Minor called Magnesia. The earliest recorded name for the rock is Heraclean stone.
About A.D. 1200, Europeans discovered that an oblong piece of this stone would point to the north and south if it were hung by a string. They called it a “leading stone,” or lodestone. Lodestone was used widely in early navigation. Notable magnetite deposits occur in Siberia, the island of Elba, and South Africa.
