...I also found a 10 to 15 foot diameter hemispheric pit in the woods, much like one I'd found in Sandwich last year. Just as I was leaving, I stumbled across another hemispheric pit, with a short, low wall connecting it to a boulder about 8 feet away.
Last is of a rock pile with a large white quartz stone in the center. Found near pit/wall/boulder thing.
4 comments :
Last one looks a bit serpentine.
This reminds me of the Logan site here in NY. There is one hole in the ground within a 20 plus rock pile site. Someone took a rock pile apart to see what was in, and under, it (years ago, not recently). There are rocks around the hole, but not as many as you might expect (maybe they picked a small pile to take apart). There is a quartz conglomerate lying on the ground near the hole.
However, I think the quartz in the last rock pile in the picture here is in situ.
The large circle depression is more than likely a Pit House and the circle of rocks around the circumference is a tell-tale signature. I have found many of these configurations throughout the RI, and MA areas.
Dr. Meli.
If you click on the picture of the pit, you can get larger version of the photo. The large boulder in the bottom center of the hole indicates this was a hand dug pit. A backhoe or excavator tractor would have no problem moving a boulder of that size. The top edge of the pit is fairly well defined and shows little evidence of erosion. The side walls have stones showing at the surface and thick carpet of moss - generally indicators of little or no humus soil layer build up. This is of course can be verified by digging a small hole see the thickness of the humus layer. The trees growing in this pit are quite young, less than 25 years old. Given all of these factors, I would venture that this pit was dug in the 20th century. I base this on my years of exploring amongst other sites, old gravel pits dating from the 1930's to present. Again, this a testable idea - by comparing the humus soil accumulation in the pit and side walls against an undisturbed surface nearby. Note: There appears to be an excessive amount of long 2 - 4" diameter logs along the edges of the pit ... possible remains of a wood structure (i.e. wilderness survival shelter, children's play fort, sweat lodge or even possible something similar to the covered vision pits used amongst certain Plains Indian tribes.
My comments are specific to this pit only. I have not seen the other pits mentioned by Dr. Meli and can't comment on them.
James Gage
www.StoneStructures.org
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