Many have wondered what a
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_ship
would be good for. Here's an idea:
In a maritime culture, people would be organized in ship guilds, one for each ship. In a ship people would have fixed seats, cause that's where they kept their private stuff. There was not much freedom of movement, since stability was not that great. Therefore negotiations and common decisions would be made with each person sitting in his place. Now, place would also decide rank and alliance, and therefore sitting in one's place would be important also when decisions were made on dry land. Therefore I propose that stone ships were local 'things' or parlaments/courts, where people sat as they would sit on their ship.
cf. for other words related to 'ship':
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/67341?var=0&l=1
Torsten