(Tommy Hudson's comment to an earlier recent post led me to this - thanks Tommy!)
" This one-third of a mile loop trail took us on a tour of an
ancient "stonefort", one of ten wall-like structures, constructed
entirely of heavy stone, believed to have been erected in the Late Woodland
period between 600AD - 900AD in Southern Illinois. Each of these ancient
arrangements have been discovered on top of hills or promontories and were once
believed to have been used as some type of stone fortification, thus giving
them the name "Stonefort". These unique walls, consisting of heavy stones,
are now believed to have been constructed as meeting places or perhaps
ceremonial locations. The original wall that sat atop this particular trail was
actually removed, dismantled by early European settlers to the area, who used
the heavy stones as building materials. The low stone base is all that really
remains of the original site, however, in 1934 the Civilian Conservation Corps
(whom I can't thank enough) rebuilt the wall into the site that we see today.
During the reconstruction of the wall, the CCC found many Native American
artifacts including a good deal of pottery. "I personally love sites like
this that carry that hint of ancient mystery, sites such as this and Rock
Pile Mountain always pique my curiosity of early Native Americans and,
while marveling at their accomplishments and ingenuity, I also find myself
theorizing on what these sites may have been used for..."
Text and photos above are from "Giant City State Park: Stonefort Nature Trail" (Blog post for
Monday, November 3, 2014 by Shannon Buford), found at:
And that "Rock Pile Mountain" link reveals an interesting
image – and: “A word of warning, there are many different "rock
piles" on the peak of this mountain, obviously created either as a cruel
joke or as an homage to the real rock pile itself…According to what I've read
this ancient circle of granite rock is believed to have been piled near the
very peak of Rock Pile Mountain by some earlier man. The original Rock Pile,
for which this entire area and mountain was named, was over four foot tall.
However, according to some accounts I have read, due to present day travelers
and inconsiderate visitors the Rock Pile now is just over a foot or two in
areas, but you can certainly see that it is created by man, for some purpose...The exact purpose, well, we'll most likely never know…”
“Finding a spot of enlightenment and my center, in the Rock
Pile.”
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