Tuesday, July 01, 2025

Hubbard Hill Structure and Turtle (Concord, MA)

[From reader James O:]

After walking along them for my whole life, I began studying rock walls in earnest a few years ago. ...

Today I decided to poke around Estabrook to prepare for a trip with some students (I teach at Concord-Carlisle) and thought I would take some time to look for rocks as well. I think I approached the topic with an appropriate skepticism, but after today my interest has been piqued. 

I walked up Hubbard's Hill and was immediately struck by the resemblance of this large rock to a snapping turtle head. To my amazement, the tip of the "nose" was pointed directly north. 

I later found the stone chamber. After noticing that the top of the hill seemed south-ish from the chamber, I took out my compass and walked as straight a line as I could due south. As it turned out, the turtle was pointing directly at the chamber. 

I didn't see any mention of this on the rockpiles blog, and was curious if you had ever noticed it and what your thoughts are. Any information you have on the chamber would also be greatly appreciated. I grew up in Harvard and once entered the chamber there when I was a kid. I'll have to revisit that site one of these days. 

I have also attached photos of a parent/chick barred owl from Hubbard Hill, and a fawn I found at the spring west of the Yellow Birch Swamp. 

Monday, June 30, 2025

How white guys reconstruct rock piles.

Around 1:58 in this video it shows a "burial mound" rock pile, that was excavated and then "reconstructed". 

Fort Ancient: A Glimpse of Ancient America

I never saw a rock pile built like that. Or, look at this one (from guideofgreece.com):

With some authority I claim Indians usually stacked stones on top of each other. In particular, you never see a paved dome. It reminds me of another (from M. Gage):

So, it seems likely this is the appearance of a fake rock pile.

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Proud of my Desktop

That is "Soutrean" blades on the top row, as well as broken bi-points and a rounded base in the second row. All from the Las Vegas area. The material is Jasper, with Carnelian on the upper right. The bottom row includes the arrowhead I just found in southern MA, made from Argillite, and three Quartz blades from coastal RI. Black and white.

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

I am excited about finding one arrowhead

But unlike the Germans (of previous post) it is because I have not found one in a month. Here it is. After examination, I decided it is an asymmetric shouldered point. Kind of a "Merrimack". Or a "Narragansett" in my vocabulary. It is like the smaller quartz points and is broader and flatter. But I think it is still that kind of shape.

Video here:

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Germans are excited by finding one arrowhead

I continue to be puzzled by the observation that Europe has almost no arrowheads. Here, a single one is considered an outstanding discovery:

Rare 4,500-year-old Stone Age artifact found in Germany | Miami Herald

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

 Looks like a face, looking out into the water. Seems kind of deliberate.

(Woods Hole, MA in the background).

Thursday, June 05, 2025

The Fort Sage Drift Fence

A stone wall north of Reno Nevada, somehow is date-able as 3K years old. 

Question: What do they know out there that, somehow, eludes our New England "experts"?

Visit a 3,000 year old abandoned prehistoric structure that nobody talks about – near Reno, Nevada!

Answer: They find arrowheads along the wall.