Here are 2 items for the stonepiles blog. The first is the meeting notice for the MAS semi-annual meeting on April 20th, at which I will be giving the first public presentation of my research on the distribution of stone constructions in the eastern seaboard. The second is a new map showing the distribution, county by county, as a factor of the number of sites per square kilometer (this allows the size of the county to be factored out). It shows the separation between the southeastern and northeastern portions of the distribution pretty clearly!
3 comments :
The red county in Massachusetts is where I live - Middlesex county.
It seems to me, this data shows sampling bias more than, or at least as much as anything else. I notice there are other little clusters of site density: around where the Gages explore, around where the New York NEARA members explore, around where Tommy Hudson and other Alabama/Georgia folks explore.
Nonetheless, the gap between northern and southern sites needs an explanation - why is no one out looking/finding sites in there? I want to say that it might be the lack of rocks and the use of earth for mound building in that area. For example, a quick search for "Earthen Mounds in Virginia" seems to turn up plenty of examples. Why were these not counted in the study?
It's probably more representative of the places where people are actively looking for Indian-made Stonework, as you point out above. If I had a "dash cam" I could post up a whole bunch of stuff that distracts me when I drive almost anywhere...
The map is representative of places where people find "stuff," whatever it might be. The next step is to cull the stonework that doesn't fit the bill.
Post a Comment