Stone Tools from Georgia

By geophileHere are some of the pictures sent in by coferrels of Georgia. Many of the items are quartz.


Hand holding a scraper.

Hidden Landscapes

Norman Muller sent in this link: http://www.hiddenlandscape.com/.
It sounds like Ted Timreck's voice.

Searching the internet, so you don't have to

A rock stack in Nevada [click here]

(ran out of time)

And speaking of stone tools, a stone gouge from Concord, MA

Old pictures

Rock piles from Boxboroughand Bolton
and Carlisle

Solitary Rock Pile - Davis Island, Maine

A reader write in:

I am writing for any information that someone might contribute to the attached photograph of a rockpile. This rockpile is on Davis Island, just off the coast of Port Clyde, Maine. It is located on the south side of the island at the highest point. The history of Davis Island reveals that it was very early inhabited by the

British family "Davis", was farmed, having stone fences in various locations on the island, and eventually

most of the family were killed by Indians. This rock formation appears untouched and only ten years ago was this island pruchased and the XXX family built a home and stay on the island a few months a year. We thought it might have been a staking of one's ownership of property?

If anyone can contribute to the origin of this formation or have any input, we would greatly appreciate your help. If you have any questions, please contact me.
I wrote back that, from the description, it sounded like the pile might have been placed on a headland and used by people out at sea as a location marker for triagulating position - a means of navigation. But I also asked for more information. I got this reply:

It is known that this rock pile is currently 5 foot tall. However, many rocks (of the same style, age and size) seem to have fallen downhill from this formation and are scattered closely around this pile (not shown in photograph). This fits with your theory that the pile used to stand taller. There are no other rock formations such as this on Davis Island, or around this formation to indicate a group of piles suspecting Indians, as you remarked. The farmer’s original rock fences do not butt up to this pile.

This rock formation is at the highest point on the East/Southeast point of Davis Island. Davis Island is off the coast of Port Clyde, Maine and is grouped with Monhegan Island, Burnt Island, and other small islands directly on the Atlantic….. and important as this was the harbor to the St. George River that supplied much to the colonies in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. It is known from history recorded that a Captain Waymouth anchored in this area – but just where? Perhaps this rock pile might give some insight.

So if any readers want to comment or find out more about this, leave a comment and I will pass it along.

Rock Pile sites around Long Pond in Falmouth, MA

There are at least three rock pile sites, that I know of, around Long Pond in Falmouth - a conservation land there. I went out to re-explore one portion of the woods there and ended up crossing one of the sites I knew from before, perhaps seeing a new pile or two around the edges, and then continuing on to the path where I found the "arrowhead" the other day, and then on to a hill looking south over the north end of the pond and seeing one more suggestive combination of rocks, a kind of structure overlooking the lake.

As I first came up to the edge of one known site, I found a pile at the point of the highest source of water that drains away down into the pond.
It was nice to see a new pile for the first time in three weeks. And then I came up to a group of piles I remembered:
The piece of land where the cluster occurs is more or less surrounded by swamp and may have preserved its rock pile site because the land here was remaindered within the swamp.

Here is another pile which I thought seemed deliberately symmetric. But it could just be a coincidence.
Here was a rock-on-rock I don't remember seeing before:
But then, I pushed a little furter than before, in through the sweet pepper bush, and came to another small knoll deeper in the swamp. Here was another symmetric pile, facing west. This one seems much more deliberately symmetrical.
It is not a new rock pile site but it is nice to visit again, and it is nice to explore it more carefully and see a few new things. At this site, the rock piles are clustered at the point where water begins to drain off into a gully feeding the pond and this is rather different from the other sites I know from Falmouth, which are most often on the edges of kettle holes.

The undergrowth was pretty thick throughout in there and as I pushed through and up hill and out to the trail, I checked again (as I had been routinely checking) that my camera was in one pocket and my trail map was in another. And it wasn't. This is the map where I have marked all the sites I found in Falmouth and I was un-willing to lose, so I went back and tried to re-construct my trail. Luckily, I walked right back to it.

Back on the path I walked a ways, found that piece of quartz I wrote about yesterday, and then explored around, including being on a hill looking south over the pond. I thought it would be worth going to the "edge" of the hill to see if anything was there, and this was a little structure I saw. We are looking south towards the pond:

Possible Quartz Tools from outside Nazareth, Pennsylvania

By GeophileSeeing your images made me think of this quartz item, which I picked up, among others, after an area at the top of a local hill was bulldozed. I don't go out looking for artifacts, but was searching over the newly-cleared area for quartz with crystals in it, which I've found elsewhere on this hill. This stone has a small crystal on the left side toward the bottom where there's a gap. I was struck with how much your stone and this one look alike.


Other things I've found since the bulldozing are shown here, with a regular teaspoon for scale. The stone on top seem as if it could be a hand-held blade. If you hold it in your right hand with your index finger over the top, it feels just right, and the bottom edge is like a cutting edge. The piece on the left reminds me of an axe blade, and the one on the right is like a manitou stone. It is of a different kind of stone from the other pieces, but has a worn look and feel. The blade in the first picture is shown here with its other side up.

Another view of the same pieces, the first piece now turned back over.

Are these really crafted pieces? I don't know. I do know that there are conflicting stories about whether or not there was an Indian burial ground on this hill. A Lenape town was known to be just a quarter to a half mile below. There is a lot of white quartz here, sometimes including crystals, and the wood with many springs and the quartz piles I've mentioned before is just below. Could these have been ceremonial or burial pieces? I'll probably never know.

A possible arrowhead from Long Pond, Falmouth

Walking around Long Pond in Falmouth I was temporarily on the jogging path, looked down and spotted an interesting looking piece of quartz in the sand and gravel of the path. It sort of looked like an arrowhead but was pretty fresh looking, and it was hard to believe an arrowhead would be sitting out there in plain sight.
I looked around briefly for other signs of stone tools, saw a few other pieces of broken quartz, but decided that broken quartz in an active path is not surprising. I looked the piece over carefully not being sure any of the faceting was legitimate flaking, decided it was probably not anything, stuck it in my pocket, and continued my walk.
Then on my way back, I took a little longer to look around at the other gravel in the pathway at the spot where I picked this item up. That is when I spotted some flakes of black rhyolite ("felsite") with white inclusions. Around here, that is material that comes only from Quincy/Saugus or Westwood and it is not from glacial debris. So although it is possible to imagine a glacial cobble of quartz managing to get pulverized on an active footpath; it is harder to image this for an exotic lithic material that does not belong in Falmouth at all. This out of place rhyolite, together with the broken quartz and the possible "arrowhead" suggest a archeological site in the path.

I have convinced myself that I did indeed pick up an "arrowhead" and actually, since it is not aerodynamic, it would more likely be a small knife of some kind. There is a faint rust stain at the base where it would have been hafted.

Some Larry Harrop pictures

If you haven't already seen these, Larry Harrop has some interesting pictures of a place in CT called "Hazelnut Hill". [Click here] Includes Indian mortar stones and rock piles.

The latest news from Nipsachuk

Reader Tim M. send me this:

Last night, August 16th, the Town of North Smithfield Planning Board voted 3-2 to deny the applicant for Rankin Estates Development (in the Nipsachuck Swamp Area) to proceed with their Master Plan. Couple of main reasons for the denial: "While the applicant has adequately identified the natural features of the site, cultural features such as historic cemeteries, stone walls and other historic features have not been identified as required by the Regulations. For example, a stone foundation identified on the 2001 Phase I Master Plan in the area of the intersection of roadway A and roadway B is not shown on the current plan. The Constraint / Opportunity Map & Existing Condition Plan shows a number of rectangular shapes resembling structures in the vicinity of Rankin Brook. No attempt has been made to identify what these man-made features are, if they are significant, and how they fit into the development scheme."

"Whether or not the stone mounds found on the Rankin site and identified as North Smithfield Historic Cemetery # 52 and #53 are in fact burials, Native American ceremonial markers or are evidence of agrarian land clearing activities; there is no dispute that they are man-made historic cultural features that need to be located on the Master Plan as specified in Section A. Item 21 of the Master Plan Checklist. This checklist item requires that the applicant show, on all maps the location of “any unique natural and or historic features, including stone walls”. The checklist does not specify that only those features located in disturbed areas need to be identified, it states, “any” feature.

Based on this requirement of the checklist and the testimony of the Dr. Fredric F. Meli, PhD, Archaeologist and Doug Harris, Deputy Narragansett Indian Tribal Historic Preservation Officer at the August 2 meeting I recommend that the Board require the applicant complete the background research of the entire property on which the proposed development is to be located as proposed in the applicant's August 2 letter, and that the field investigations described in Item b. of the letter, be expanded to include the entire site.

Also, the Board should be aware of Rhode Island General Laws §28-18-1(5) that defines an “Historic Cemetery”:

“Historic Cemetery” means any tract of land which has been for more than one hundred (100) years used as a burial place, whether or not marked with an historic marker, including but not limited to, ancient burial places known or suspected to contain the remains of one or more American Indians.

Rhode Island General Laws §23-18-11.1 prohibits the alteration or removal of any “historic cemetery” except with a permit issued by the Town Council. The law places the responsibility of protection of historic cemeteries on the town. The law is silent on who determines whether the mounds are burial places. At this point it appears that the Board will have to at least make a preliminary determination as to whether the mounds viewed on the site are ancient Indian burials raising at least a suspicion that they contain the remains of American Indians. That determination is subject to further archeological study. But until a final report is issued the mounds should be protected as historic cemeteries pending further study and identification. Given the broad definition of “Historic Cemeteries” it clearly appears that the Legislature intends us to err on the side of treating the areas as cemeteries since otherwise the damage would be irreparable. Based on the testimony of Dr. Meli and Doug Harris the Town is on notice that there is at least a suspicion that these mounds could in fact be ancient burial sites

Let me know what your thoughts are on this. The developer's attorney has promised to take the town to court over this issue.

Some rock pile links (mostly in Georgia)

The Lolo Trail - rock piles in Nez Perce territory [Click here]

"It is not known exactly what purpose the "big piles of rocks" served but guesses have included wedding ceremonies, initiations and burial rituals" Big Canoe in Northern Georgia [Click here]

"Description of Gravesites: In the survey of the original site, thirty-four graves were marked by stones, eleven by rock piles, two by ..."

"Short but sweet! This ride through the Ag Center woods offers one surprise after another. Look for sudden drop-offs, log stacks, rock piles, laurel tunnels, a tough climb, and plenty of twisty turns. ...
From the guidebook "Off The Beaten Track Volume III: A Guide to Mountain Biking in North Georgia" [Click here]

"Strange rock piles....[Click here and scroll down]

Parks Strickland Rock pile site from "The Profile - Newsletter of the Society of Georgia Archeology" [click here for PDF]


Bonaire - Gravity Hill [click here]

Benton McKaye Trail - Springer Mountain to Three Forks "At one location Doug pointed out several large piles of stones which be explained were the graves of a Cherokee burial ground. We were very impressed and it did seem to us to be an unusually serene spot." [Click here]

Ceremonial Stonework in southwestern Colorodo

Tim Fohl sent in his observations about the many examples of ceremonial stone structures in southwestern CO. He saw numerous rock shelters and tradional cliff-dweller structures but also saw rock piles and small configurations that might be easy to miss.

A small rock arrangement within a larger one:
A stone circle:
Propped Boulder with Ute Mountain in the background.
A vertical slab with a small rock pile on top:
Another pile:
Wonderful!

Stonexus Magazine

If you like rocks, click here: http://www.stonefoundation.org/stonexus/index1.html

Quartz Pile, Northampton County, PA

By GeophileI mentioned before that there are piles of quartz stones in a wood near town. Here is a picture of one. This is the largest and furthest from the fields. It is also just across a stream from a place where larger stones have been arranged in a small deliberate formation. However, I would not guess that this is a ceremonial pile. Too many other kinds of activity take place here.

It is right alongside a stream within 20 yards of the first spring and much closer to the place where the spring arises during dry times. There are ten springs less than a quarter mile away, as this glen seems to be the outlet for groundwater from the surrounding hills. The hills are littered with quartz stones from some natural formation, so none of the stones here would have been carried from far away.

Burial grounds pose mounds of trouble to developers - the latest Nipsachuk news

Reader Tim M. sent this:

By ETHAN SHOREY, Valley Breeze Staff Writer
Decision on development to be made by Aug. 17

NORTH SMITHFIELD – With hundreds of Indian burial mounds dotting the 264-acre piece of land off Rankin Path, the situation for developers here is getting more complicated.

Last Thursday's first of two master plan public informational meetings at the Kendall-Dean School drew dozens of residents who say the developer of a proposed 122-unit housing development, Narragansett Improvement, is ignoring hundreds of years of common knowledge in the town, all for a big profit.

They also accuse the developer of planning a "mining operation" on the property.

Members of the community say Narragansett Improvement has a plan to use the potentially largest housing development in town as a cover for the profitability of the land itself, hundreds of thousands of yards of gravel, that would be sold to the state.

Because Narragansett Improvement would be building homes on the site, grading of the gravel would be a legal and profitable venture, residents are speculating.

The argument continued over the presence of hundreds of stone and dirt mounds on the property, one side claiming they were Indian burial mounds, and the other claiming they are from early settlers clearing the land for farming.

"I don't know if anyone can answer that at this point," said Planning Director Michael Phillips, on the question of whether Narragansett Improvement will ever be allowed to build on the property. "State law is pretty clear about not building on (the graves) or within 25 feet of them."

A decision on whether the mounds are indeed burial mounds, thus disallowing the development as currently constituted, must be made by Friday Aug. 17.

The state regulations create yet another hurdle for Narragansett Improvement, and would put at least some of the company's current plans in serious jeopardy, according to Phillips, as it was recently discovered that at least one of the planned roads for the proposed development runs right by a mound.

During last week's meeting, the lawyer for Narragansett Improvement, Michael Kelly, questioned the qualifications of anthropologist Frederick Meli, an artist, archeologist and former professor at URI who said that after many hours of walking on the property, he is convinced the historical evidence for Indian burial grounds is compelling.

After Kelly's questioning, Meli proceeded to read off the many qualifications he had previously summarized for the Planning Board, to which Kelly had no response. Phillips said that the questions over Meli's qualifications, with a master's degree and doctorate in archeology, were unfounded.

"Maybe (Meli) doesn't have extensive experience in New England, but he is certainly qualified in the science of archeology," said Phillips. "He knows what he is talking about."

Along with Kelly and Narragansett Improvement, William Simmons, chair of Brown University's Anthropology Department, has claimed that the mounds could have easily been arranged by European settlers clearing the land for farming.

That, says Donald Gagnon, chair of the North Smithfield Conservation Commission, is "ludicrous."

"There is absolutely no evidence that there was ever any farming activity," he said. "The state has done its own studies and found that you can't grow anything there."

He said the property is full of eskers, or small hills left over from glacier activity, wetlands, boulder fields, and gravel, making farming even today impossible.

Kelly did not return a call seeking answers on why he believes there were once farmers on the land or why he doesn't believe the mounds are graves. A representative from Narragansett Improvement said Kelly should be the one contacted on the matter.

Carlo Mencucci, of Burrillville, said he too has heard the claims of "farmers clearing their land," and doesn't put an ounce of credibility into them. He said growing up he knew all the back woods in the northern half of Rhode Island, and the Indian burial mounds are everywhere, including the proposed site for Rankin Estates in North Smithfield.

"Everyone always knew they were there," he said. "We saw them, we had proper respect for them. They act like they've just discovered them but everyone around here has known they have been there forever."

"Back in the 1800s, everyone respected them," said Gagnon.

Meli has estimated the area off Rankin Path could contain a burial ground covering at least 230 acres. Already, The Wampanoag Indians, led by Chief Wilfred Greene, have said the Rankin Path burial mounds are quite possibly their version of Arlington National Cemetery.

Giving even more credibility to the Conservation Commission's claims of Indian burial mounds, The Rhode Island Historic Cemetery Commission has declared the mounds at Rankin Path to be a historic Indian cemetery from the days of King Philip's War in 1675.

An official study is yet to be completed by Meli to find out exactly how many of the mounds exist on the Rankin Path property, but researchers say they have seen hundreds.

If the extensive study by Meli is completed and it is discovered that it is indeed burial mounds covering the 264 acres, as many believe, it is difficult for many in town to conceive of a profitable development that would still work for Narragansett Improvement, especially with the 25-foot buffer.

Re-exploring some rock pile sites in Falmouth, first identified by Mavor

A couple of summers ago Mavor gave me copies of his maps of sites around Falmouth, MA and last summer I located most of them. He always noted more rock piles than I saw but when I looked again I would generally find what he had mapped. As far as I can tell he was a very careful observer. For example, from one of his maps [I cannot even find topo maps with this much resolution]:
I had already found a number of rock pile sites at the time I started looking for the sites Mavor mapped and, interestingly, I only found one of the sites he mapped and he never found any of the other sites I had mapped. We followed different search strategies in a pretty limited area of conservation lands - around "Long Pond", north and south of Brick Kiln Rd, north and south of Thomas Landers Rd. He followed alignment directions, along stone walls or surveyed outward from some key location. By contrast, I just looked for kettle holes and places where hill meets water. Apparently it does not matter which strategy you follow - there are enough sites to go around. Also worth mentioning is that you do not see these piles from a distance but have to be actually stepping on them to see them in the lowbush blueberries. There are probably several good sites still to be found but I have exhausted all the obvious places to look.
Last week I was out trying to find some of the "dots" on one of Mavor's maps and, instead stumbled into a whole new site. In the end it turned out this new site was part of one Mavor did find and I was simply mis-interpreting his map. At any rate I found this site by being persistent and slogging up over one more hill and pushing through one more quarter mile of blueberry bushes.
These pictures give an idea of the light under the leaves and how the piles are hidden in there. Typically these piles occur in little clusters, as shown on the map fragment above.

Look at the light:
This is a pile that was cleaned off by someone - not me.

An example of just how buried and hard to see these piles are. Sometimes you find them only when you happen to step on one and detect loose rocks under foot.
Walking along exploring the slope, I found this pile which is very clearly designed to support the pointer rock.
Examples like this re-enforce the idea that these piles were originally meant to be seen from a distance - I suppose back when this was open pasture, namely any time before the last 50 years. All of northern Falmouth used to be open. Now it is all trees and blueberries.
I went out twice since then looking for more rock piles but nary a one was found.

A final comment about Mavor's search strategy. Note the diagonal straight line cutting through the upper rock pile cluster on his map. This is a winter solstice sunset line that leads out towards something like Cuttyhunk, starting from a very prominent glacial erratic he called "Indian Rock". Apparently Mavor walked along this line finding rock piles and confirming his hypothesis that the piles served to mark that line. But there are plenty of piles and sites not along this line and I believe these piles are placed for positioning over a much shorter range - that the viewing position is not some large and distant boulder but somewhere closer to hand. That first photo above looks like it might have been a viewing position. So there is a lot more to be understood here beyond a single solstice line.

Chamber - No Vacancy (by James Gage)

posted by JimP

James Gage writes in -

"This past weekend we returned to a cairn & chamber site in Sandown, NH to photograph two chambers we had previously found. One of the chambers is located in area of large boulders and other rock debris which has slid off the hillside. Upon relocating the chamber we found it was occupied by a eastern diamondback rattle snake. The snake issued several warning hisses which sound like escaping steam.

This incident highlights and age old bit of woods wisdom - carefully check any dark recessed space before putting your hand inside or entering. Such places can be dens for porcupines, rodents, snakes, or other wildlife. I carry a flash for this purpose.

Eastern rattle snakes prefer cool dark places to den up for the day. Unlike many other snakes they do not tolerate heat very well and are nocturnal hunters. Contrary to popular mythology, they general do not rattle. Instead they prefer a hissing sound as a warning. Generally, they only attacked in self defense. First aid for rattle snake bites (1) identify the snake if possible (2) remain calm (3) note the time of the bite (4) suck and squeeze out the poison (5) keep the effected limb below the heart (6) seek immediate medical attention."

Check out some of the neighboring blogs

Since I am not posting much, check out the new stuff at the Hi-Tor blog and there is always something interesting at Tim MacSweeney's blog. Or check out some of the other links to the right.

Penn Museum Researching Sites

By Geophile
An article about native stone sites appeared in our local paper today. Quoted in it are Fred Werkheiser, Chief Bob Red Hawk Ruth, and Tim Powell of the Penn Museum. Apparently with the cooperation of Fred and some Indians, the museum is carrying out research at what sounds like the Oley Hills site. A picture of one of the cairns at Oley Hills appears on the first page of the article, which may be found here. Unfortunately only part of the article is online.
This is exciting, because this is the kind of research that would have to be done in order for entities like the Archaeological Conservancy to be willing to spend money on sites like this. Of course the research could prove inconclusive, but this is a huge step in the right direction!

Last look at the rock piles in Weston

It was so nice to see this sort of thing less than 15 minutes drive and a few minutes walk from my house.
Note the quartz

4 platform piles from Weston

I mentioned the Weston site was a mixture of large platform piles with many smaller pile seeming to mark horizon positions as seen from one or more of these larger piles. Thought I should collect together pictures of these "platforms" in a single post.

On Vacation

For two weeks the posting activity will be much reduced.

Aperture Pile from Weston, MA

This pile is from a different small hill in the wetland from the rest of the new site I found in Weston. The pile has a deliberate hole through it and, at the right moment, light could shine through it and across the flat surface of the larger rock to the side.