Thursday, August 25, 2011

Rock pile sites of southwestern Estabrook Woods - Concord MA [CONTINUED]

...Continued from previous post

Site C
A new site in Concord, I found it by following the landform of site B, the "plateau", further south. About where Dakins Brook begins, right beside the open space of the mown fields, there is a little space below the "cliff" face with ~20 mounds. I do not think this is "Farmer's Cliffs" but it is in about the right vicinity:
The piles are in the more level area below this slope. At first glance, one sees something gray poking out of the surrounding bushes:Many are rectangular, about 8 feet across, and pretty smeared out.
Another:Another:This last one has a couple of larger rocks placed outward from one corner of the rectangle. Doesn't look random. This pile and others had some white quartz/feldspar:How unexpected to find these in Concord:
Aside from the larger rectangular ones built on the ground, there were also smaller piles built on support rocks. Some also had interesting components:
A bit closer to the brook were some other piles, a little more typical of brooksides around here.
Even managed to find one larger pile built on support. Always happy to spot "big game" like this.
There was a mixture of styles at this spot. Is this next an effigy, or a pile with a "manitou" stone?
At first I thought it was smeared rectangles and smaller piles on support. Then I saw that the piles continued into a lower wetter part of the site. Then I also saw some larger piles built on boulders, and evenly spaced - if not in lines:
Although not so obviously placed in lines and evenly spaced, these had a bit of a feel of an early marker pile site. I felt these piles were akin to the larger chambered mounds at B. For example this pile, the largest I saw at this site, is reminiscent of the piles with hollows built against boulders that we saw in Dunstable (see here).
So, an interesting and diverse site, joining a short list of other sites in Concord, a short list of sites in Estabrook Woods.

1 comment :

pwax said...

You know, I think it is staring us in the face that certain types of piles are found near brooks and within the breakout zones of brooks. I just can't quite put my finger on what are the relevant characteristics. Compare this site with the ones at Hager Hill/Guggins Brook in Boxborough. These are not marker pile site characteristics but, confusingly, they blend off into those in many places - like this one at Dakins Brook.