Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Un-roofed chambers? - Comparing three structures

I was re-reading the "Beaver Pond" post at TwoHeadwaters and was reminded that I wanted to post one more thing from Paul Hill. In the Beaver Pond post we see a roofless structure, discussed as a possible collapsed chamber (here is one photo of this interesting structure). I do not see evidence of collapsed roof material in the middle of the opening, so perhaps the structure was roofed with organic material and nothing remains?

Anyway I found two things like the following at Paul Hill:These looked a bit like sand and gravel "borrow pits"; so I suppressed the first one, thinking it did not fit well with my narrative. When I saw a second example, however, I took a picture and wondered if perhaps this might be a legitimate part of the "site".

The Beaver Pond "chamber" is somewhat similar. Then I remembered another example from the top of Horse Hill (reported here):
So this is four examples (one from Beaver Pond, 2 from Paul Hill, and one from Horse Hill) of similar structures found at rock pile sites. Is it possible these are part of a particular cultural pattern that includes rock piles?

1 comment :

theseventhgeneration said...

Don Windsor wrote about rock piles on private land in the area near the Beaver Pond structure. From "Stone Piles in Chenango County"(2000), he writes about the rock piles: "These are the best piles I have ever seen. Some even have a lace effect, that is, you can see through the piles."

After surmising the age of the piles (well over 50 years old and possibly "5 or 10 millennia" [sic]), he goes on to say "the XXX site is 'paved' with stones, a lot of stones. Perhaps this pavement is the result of repeated rebuildings."

If/when I manage to get back out on public land in the area, I'll pay close attention to any rock piles attached to boulders that I might find.