Monday, April 15, 2013

Out in the Berkshires

Took a walk in the woods in Tolland, Massachusetts on Sunday. A stone wall runs along a path that goes into the woods. Not far from the road, and near the path, on a slope going down to a swampy area, I spotted this well-built structure with an obvious hollow.
A couple of views from the downhill side, showing the careful construction.


Further down that slope is a sort of a split pile.
This second pile is built close to the edge of a large boulder.
That rock on the ground in front of the boulder has a presumably natural depression that could perhaps have been used as a mortar.
Near the bottom of that slope, a low pile, looking smeared out.
Elsewhere in the same woods, a group of three stones and a rock-on-rock flank two sides of a shallow depression in the earth.

4 comments :

Norman said...

Looks like a manitoui stone in front of the lower pile in image 4.

pwax said...

You pointed out a "group of three stones and a rock-on-rock flank two sides of a shallow depression."
It is interesting, because I was thinking these depression represented compactification from being walked on. But in your picture: might someone have sat there?

pwax said...

On second thought, maybe water flows through there? I should look closer at some of my own pics.

Chris Pittman said...

The depression was rather clearly defined and had a distinct shape. I don't think it could have been formed by people walking on the spot, I would expect the outline to be more amorphous in such a case. It looks like soil was removed here, at some point.