I just spoke with a local archaeologist, who was brought into the picture after the EOD boys had done their work. Evidently a couple of blocks of C4 were used to "save us" from this hazard. The artifact was solid iron, and has the wrong dimensions for a 32 pdr ball. The current more knowledgeable "guess" is that it might have been a counter weight of some type, or possibly a rock crusher ball. Anyway, it was not a shell / landmine and definitely did not have a fuze.
All the best,
Jim J.