Monday, December 18, 2006

Circular Trenches

This is the third example of a circular trench. Maybe 30 feet or so across. These are from Far southeastern Tyngsborough, just up from Westford, east of the Massapaug watershed. The other two I wrote about here [Click here]. This one was only a few feet away:

4 comments :

JimP said...

Forgive my ignorance, Peter, but I've never seen one of these circular trenches in person. It's difficult for me to see in the video unfortunately. I was wondering if you could tell me how these circular earthworks might differ from colonial-era earthen pits for charcoal production, which is something I have seen. Those tend to be a circular depression with a slight mound in the center.

pwax said...

I do not know what is the difference. I do not know what a charcoal pit looks like. No reason that these three outlines could not be exactly that.

JimP said...

I have seen circular charcoal mounds that have been excavated at both Parker Woodland in Coventry, RI and at the Yawgoog Scout Reservation in Hopkinton, RI. They produced charcoal for use in cold-blast furnaces. In both places the mounds appeared to be a bit smaller in circumference than what your video seems to show. The best indication would be the presence of very black earth in the center from all the wood that was burned there.

pwax said...

Maybe it is where a wigwam was.