A quiet morning looking for Arrowheads

 

Arrowhead on Cape Cod Beach - Quivett Neck, E. Dennis

Powwow Invitation, Strawberry Moon: Nashobah Praying Indians

You are invited to the Strawberry Moon June Powwow: Nashobah Praying Indians

 

Dear Friends of the Nashobah Praying Indians,

 

Chief Eagle Medicine and Sagamore Strong Bear Medicine welcome you to the third annual Nashobah Strawberry Moon Celebration (Powwow).  This will be June 27, 2026, at Fay Park, Littleton MA, 12-5pm.  (Rain date 6-28)

 

Public is welcome!  Tell your friends, bring your family! 

Quartz Squibnocket Arrowhead

After several hours of walking in the hot sun:

Arrowhead from West Concord

Reader Steve S. writes:

After a few months of looking, I think I’ve found my first ever arrowhead in a farm field in west concord. Picture attached. 

Earthworks in Newark OH - Great Circle and Octagon

A couple of comments on how Illinois and Ohio seem a bit contemptuous of their major mound sites. In the case of Cahokia, the state of IL put a landfill mound just a few miles away, that is larger than "Monks Mound", the largest mound in America. In the case of the Newark Earthworks, there are NO SIGNS to help a traveler realize there is a site there; and the views of the Great Circle and Octagon are completely obstructed by unnecessary tree plantings. I mean.... really? Apparently the visitor center at Cahokia has been closed for 4 years - due to lack of initiative to finish the job.

A quick look at Cahokia

 

I was surprised to pass Cahokia on my drive home from Nevada.

Rock Piles, Wachusett Reservoir

Reader Larry J. writes:

Hello!

I stumbled across an interesting rock formation and was curious what your thoughts on it are! Ill attach a video of me walking around it. Also a couple photos, one of Lidar.

Thanks!

Larry .

Lidar:

Walk around [I rotated the video, and uploaded it to my YouTube channel]:

Tahattawan’s World

Thursday, May 14, 7 pm at Acton Memorial Library

Who were the Indians who lived in the Acton area before the English arrived? It is widely understood that this band, led by their sachem Tahattawan, transferred Musketaquid/Concord to the English in the 1630s, adopted Christianity, settled down nearby at Nashobah/Littleton, endured rough handling during King Philip’s War in the 1670s, and then merged into the general diaspora of Christian Indians in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Local historian Brent Ranalli has undertaken a fresh, close reading of the source documents from the seventeenth century for a new book project. This talk presents some of his findings, enhancing our understanding of the band and their story.
Please register at https://tinyurl.com/Ranalli-May14.

Friends of Pine Hawk

Remembering and Reconnecting: Day of Remembrance, Commemoration of 350 years after the Great Falls Massacre this Saturday, May 16

From the Nolumbeka Project:

Rocks that look like creatures

From here: Aphrodite and Eros Spotted in the Desert and Neither Fish Escaped Typhons Attack as you will See [A video I had a hard time following.]

The Seven Hills Serpent at an Entrance

 Shadow becomes an Eye On the Old Road to Woodbury CT

https://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2026/05/shadow-becomes-eye-on-old-road-to.html

Clovis and Crystal Quartz

Some gorgeous photos:

 Why did Clovis toolmakers choose difficult quartz crystal? New study offers clues

NEARA fieldtrips

Worcester, MA - April 19

[?] CT - May 2

No doubt the details are available at www.neara.org

Found a Snappit Point, over in RI

A short video:

DNA population comparison is BALONEY

 According to my chatbot:

Percent of variable DNA examined

Humans have roughly 3–4 million common variable sites (SNPs and similar variants). Standard population‑genetics datasets examine 300,000 to 1,000,000 of those.

The proportion is:

$$\frac{3\times {10}^5\text{ to }{10}^6}{3\times {10}^6\text{ to }4\times {10}^6}\approx 10\mathrm{\%}\text{ to }30\mathrm{\%}$$

So population‑comparison studies typically use about 10–30% of the variable DNA.

That’s the number.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Got that? Between 1/10 and 1/3 of "important" dna is compared. A vast playground for cherry picking.

Also, do not wait around for them to perform any form of reasonable sampling. I read something about using "30" individuals. Are you kidding me? If a tree has 100 branch points, you will not deduce it from a sample size of 30.

Atherton Brook republishing

I was reading an old post. I am so pleased to have discovered places like this. Please someone, go have another look.

https://rockpiles.blogspot.com/2022/04/atherton-brook-quabbin-and-also-site.html?

From my Chatbot:

"Consumer ancestry tests do NOT analyze more DNA for Native American ancestry than for any other population.

They use the same SNP chip — typically 600,000 to 1,000,000 SNPs, which is about:

$$\frac{\mathrm{1,000,000}}{\mathrm{3,200,000,000}}\approx 0.03\mathrm{\%}$$

So, the amount of DNA examined is ~0.02–0.03% of the genome, regardless of whether the comparison is Native American, European, African, or anything else."

Next time you hear a genetic analysis, this is why it is bullshit.

Three Neanderthals Cartoon

(AI Cartoon...not rock pile related).

Preparing for the hunt:

A vigorous discussion of options:

Wiser heads prevail:

Kennewick Man and archeological politics

About 45 minutes in, they are talking about how, in North America, skeletons are treated as "an embarrassment" rather than as a "national treasure" (as skeletons are viewed in Mexico).

Killing Kennewick Man: Dr. James Chatters

As it stands, the NAGRPA laws are used to suppress most studies of the past. Skeletal remains cannot be shown in journals whose supposed goals are to study the past. 

You can make of that what you will, but I am thinking we dodged a bullet here in the East because the "openness" policy was embedded in the earliest history of rock piles. There have been efforts to privatize the subject, keeping sites secret and demanding certain spiritual buy-ins from visitors. [see Rock Piles: Sacred Stones, Vision Quest, and the Nashobah Praying Indians] However, thankfully, more curiosity-based thinking prevailed. The tribes had discussions of whether or not to keep things secret and let old sites molder away back into the soil; or whether to support open research and publicity for newly discovered sites. 

I am not sure what swayed the Indians involved in those early discussions. It might have been that, at the time, the Indians felt a small debt towards the discoverers of site and adopted some of our attitudes. It might also be the argument we made to the effect that so much development and land use tension occurs in the East, keeping things secret nearly guarantees developers will bulldoze sites.

Anyway, the point I am making is that research has not been stifled towards rock piles in the same way that research about sites is discouraged elsewhere. We are lucky our sites are not privatized or co-opted by the tribes and, as it goes, the USET resolutions codify a research partnership that is lacking, out West.

"Sharing Mohican Knowledge and Presence in the Berkshires" Zoom presentation, Sunday

 

'The Indians' of Woodbridge CT

 

Sheila McCreven

Jun 29, 2024

 "In the book, 'History of Seymour, Connecticut with Biographies and Genealogies' published in 1879 by W.C. Sharpe, in a chapter titled 'The Indians' on page 36, the following passage provides some details connecting the native people of Seymour and Woodbridge...A small group of hikers set out to visit the last known settlement of the Paugussetts on June 29, 2024...the group of hikers soon locate the area, enclosed by a fieldstone wall with its entrance marked by two stone pillars, each with a capstone bearing an inscription — the words “Paugassett Indians” on one; and “Last Settlement 1833” on the other...Woodbridge Town Historian Marvin Aarons tells the tale:

"According to Woodbridge resident Edee Lockyer, who visited the cemetery as a child in the 1940s, the graves were then mounded up and covered with rocks. Sadly, the graves were repeatedly disturbed over many years. Today, there are no gravestones or burial mounds; rather, the grave sites are sunken."

https://www.townhistory.org/the-last-paugassett-settlement-on-the-border-between-woodbridge-ansonia-and-seymour-2/

https://rockpiles.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-last-of-woodbridge-indians.html

Full Moon Festival - Greenfield MA

 

Bring back the Wolly Mammoth

[Not rock pile related]

Colossal Biosciences Announces Historic Breakthrough: The Woolly Mammoth Is Back, Meet Baby Manny - Technology Org

How cool would it be?

Nashobah Praying Indian / Deer Island Commemoration Exhibit at the Littleton Historical Society

A message from Dan Boudillion and the Friends of the Nashobah Praying Indians about an upcoming event that may be of interest to many:

Nashobah Praying Indians / Deer Island Commemoration Exhibit at the Littleton Historical Society

Dear Friends of the Nashobah Praying Indians,

I am pleased to announce that the Littleton Historical Society is opening a new exhibit in commemoration of the 350 year anniversary of the three months the Nashobah Praying Indians spent interred on Deer Island and Long Island during King Philip’s (Metacom’s) War of 1675-76. 

The exhibit will feature timeline and text, pictures and maps, artifacts, and Native handcrafted items. 

The exhibit will open on Sunday, February 8, from 2:00 pm through 4:00 pm. 

Both Sagamore Strong Bear Medicine and I will be there for the opening on February 8th, as will Historical Society staff.  Strong Bear indicated he will likely have some of his handcrafted Native jewelry with him for sale. 

(All proceeds of jewelry sales go to the Nashobah Praying Indians charitable organization for community programs such as the yearly Strawberry Moon Powwow.)

Also, we will be holding a public 350 year anniversary commemoration of the Deer Island internment on Saturday, May 16.  (Details on this to follow.)

For anyone at the Harvard Warner Free Lecture talk last Friday, there will be plenty of Nashobah books on hand for sale at the exhibit February 8^th. (All proceeds go to the Nashobah Praying Indians charitable organization.)

Time & Location of exhibit opening:

Sunday, February 8, from 2:00 pm through 4:00 pm

Littleton Historical Society

4 Rogers Street

Littleton MA 01460

https://www.littletonhistoricalsociety.org/

Littleton Historical Society Hours:

Wednesdays 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

2nd Sunday of each month 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Many thanks to Pam, Ann, and Donna of the Society for all their hard work pulling together the exhibit!

Looking forward to seeing you then!

Dan Boudillion

Secretary, Friends of the Nashobah Praying Indians 

Native American DNA found in Greenland

How about that?

Ancient DNA Shows Vikings Were in America Much Longer Than We Thought!

Chief Quiet Storm: Native Stewardship of Mother Earth

[From Friends of Pinehawk in Acton MA]  CANCELED

If you missed Nashobah Praying Grand Indian Chief Quiet Storm in the Friends of Pine Hawk Fall Series, there is another opportunity to hear Native Stewardship of Mother Earth in Littleton this Saturday, January 10. 

Chief Quiet Storm will share how we as a community can be good stewards of the land in all spaces. She will also highlight how we can better support the pollinators and biodiversity that we rely on to sustain our life on Mother Earth. 

Chief Quiet Storm's talk was of such interest that the Littleton Conservation Trust is hosting her Saturday, January 10, at 3 PM at The Center, 33 Shattuck St, in Littleton.  

Best wishes to all for the New Year!

Friends of Pine Hawk

www.pinehawk.com