Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Rt 202 Final Summary

So for two different days of driving along Rt 202, mostly in New Salem MA, we have about six rock piles sites.
  1. The first one north of Moosehorn Rd, including one cluster of large platform piles and separate clusters of ground piles and of gridden marker piles. I think this is several different sites in the same vicinity.
  2. A site where the open view shows the valley to the east with crossed pairs and rock-on-rocks.
  3. The Freeman Rd site with effigies or are they just walls and piles? Also supported piles and an outline.
  4. Cooleyville Rd - a gridded marker pile site with a large platform at the lower end of the site.
  5. The minor field clearing [?] piles beside the road and next to a brook.
  6. A minor site in a wetland on the bend of Prescott Rd.
  7. Gate XX where the wonderful "turtle" occurs along with clusters of supported piles at the brookside.
It is worth noting that these sites are along a stretch of the road that is probably no more than 5 miles long. This suggests an high density of rock piles sites in the area. Also it is intriguing to consider the variety of sites in such a small area and whether they were built by different types of people.

2 comments :

Geophile said...

Maybe over a long period of time.

That heavy concentration of sites also seems to occur in Monroe County. Why some places . . .

What group of people is said to be native to your area?

pwax said...

Several different groups - named "tribes" by Europeans, claim central Mass. The name I associate with that region is Nipmunk.