Thursday, August 30, 2007

Rock pile site from Pendleton, Kentucky

Reader Anthony R. writes in:
I was doing research on the civil war in my area and I knew of these piles and odd impressions on our land from when I was a child. There are at least five piles. Two are very large and are seperated by about one hundred yards on the ridge tops. We bought 100 acres of land in 1971 and this land was used only as cattle land. This was due to the land was on a hill and not farmable. I even found a tree with damage on it but, was not able to fine another tree with same type of damage. Not even from a woodpecker. I am searching into more of our history but, am not able to find anything else. These images should show some straight lines from where you mentioned farmers did not take the time to stack and the pile is very high about 5 to 6 feet high and 2-30 feet wide on the two large piles. The other piles are smaller and the walls lead toward the piles. If you would please take the time to just view the images and give me an idea of what you think they are and was used for.

4 comments :

pwax said...

Pretty impressive sized stone mounds. I wonder what is on top of the hill visible in the distance in picture #4 from the top?

Anonymous said...

I have been in touch with archaeologists from Alabama on north, and carefully constructed stone cairns and mounds are found along the Appalachians through New England. We don't know precisely what their purpose was or when they were built, but some cairns and mounds in GA have been dated to the Mississippian Period, which is around 1000 AD. Some may represent burials, and others may have been constructed for ritualistic purposes.

Norman

Anonymous said...

my budy has land we hunt on and there are rock mounds all over this gully. some look like burial mounds and some look like defense's, but have looked to see if any battle has happened there and can' find nothing. they were put there by some a long time ago and there are a lot of them just tying to find out what they are

by: Anessa Arehart said...

We have some very similar stone piles on our farm in Mercer County. One of them in about 12 feet tall and 30 feet across. The Kentucke Ancient American Society based out of Louisville with Lee Pennington is a great resource for you. They have been out here several times to look at our walls and cairns. They hold a monthy meeting in Louisville to discuss findings. You may want to look them up. Nice people....very respectful of such structures. Good luck! I hope you find some answers!