Could not resist revisiting the "Soon Come" place - rather than trying to find it again in the rain.
A few teaser pix until I have enough time to do it justice by writing it all up...
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Cisco Hills
Mavor and Dix describe, on pp 279-281 of Manitou, a site in the Boxborough woods which is behind one of the Cisco buildings. Bruce McAleer figured out where this place is. 
Mavor and Dix spend particular attention describing curious features within the outline of stone walls at the center of their illustration but, more generally, the whole area is full of unusual stone structures. Let me quote from the book:
"The structures located in Figure 11-9 include a complex array of stone rows, mounds, standing stones, etc., along both banks of a stream flowing south to join Beaver Brook.
In the central potion of the figure, a is an acute angled cornier, where two stone rows neet at a stream (dotted line). At b, there is an embrasure in a stone row near c, a lintelled passage to permit flow of a seasonal stream beneath the row. A mound d, about 25 yards in diameter and six feet high is located adjacent to the stream.... Feature e is a stone enclosure with a roof of stone slabs located at the edge of the stream and seasonally nearly full of water. It has an undergound passage about five yards long extending from the water's edge uphill to an opening at the northeast end"
The mound they mention (like this one)
is actually only one of three or four in the valley. Very big, very broken down, in the style of Whipple Hill but built on exposed ledges. I could not tell if they might be from field clearing and you can look at some pictures later and try to decide. There is evidence of separate "cart sized" piles making up the larger pile but the rocks are bit too uniform in size. With all the other rock piles around, ones which are in no way field clearing related, it is hard to imagine that these are. Maybe the kind of water passage they describe is a certain type of well, and perhaps this little valley is what is left of someone's residence. But there is really no evidence for anything like that. After reading M&D again I think they were mystified as to the nature of this place. It is probably worth several more visits. It is also worth re-reading that section of Manitou. I am lucky to live nearby. Here is another of the big piles, I think this is the one mentioned in the book.
On page 281 of Manitou, they continue:
"Shown at the bottom of Figure 11-9 as a group of dots is a field of stone mounds situated on a hillside plateau.".
I can tell you that is one great "field of stone mounds". I used it as one of the "Three Rock Pile Sites" [Click here].
More about this valley later.
Mavor and Dix spend particular attention describing curious features within the outline of stone walls at the center of their illustration but, more generally, the whole area is full of unusual stone structures. Let me quote from the book:"The structures located in Figure 11-9 include a complex array of stone rows, mounds, standing stones, etc., along both banks of a stream flowing south to join Beaver Brook.
In the central potion of the figure, a is an acute angled cornier, where two stone rows neet at a stream (dotted line). At b, there is an embrasure in a stone row near c, a lintelled passage to permit flow of a seasonal stream beneath the row. A mound d, about 25 yards in diameter and six feet high is located adjacent to the stream.... Feature e is a stone enclosure with a roof of stone slabs located at the edge of the stream and seasonally nearly full of water. It has an undergound passage about five yards long extending from the water's edge uphill to an opening at the northeast end"
The mound they mention (like this one)
is actually only one of three or four in the valley. Very big, very broken down, in the style of Whipple Hill but built on exposed ledges. I could not tell if they might be from field clearing and you can look at some pictures later and try to decide. There is evidence of separate "cart sized" piles making up the larger pile but the rocks are bit too uniform in size. With all the other rock piles around, ones which are in no way field clearing related, it is hard to imagine that these are. Maybe the kind of water passage they describe is a certain type of well, and perhaps this little valley is what is left of someone's residence. But there is really no evidence for anything like that. After reading M&D again I think they were mystified as to the nature of this place. It is probably worth several more visits. It is also worth re-reading that section of Manitou. I am lucky to live nearby. Here is another of the big piles, I think this is the one mentioned in the book.
On page 281 of Manitou, they continue:
"Shown at the bottom of Figure 11-9 as a group of dots is a field of stone mounds situated on a hillside plateau.".
I can tell you that is one great "field of stone mounds". I used it as one of the "Three Rock Pile Sites" [Click here].
More about this valley later.
Soon Come
I've been waiting for a week for some rain to wash clean an interesting boulder.
Perhaps the quartz will photograph better, wet with rain, and the many shades of red will be more apparent. I followed a linear row with the Indian Look, which ended with a big end stone. I stepped over the zigzag row that borders the wetland area - marked with blue ribbons, in an industrial park...
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
More Rhinebeck Cairrns
Reader Ji writes:
Here are pictures of more cairns along the same Rhinebeck creekbed which has a long serpentine cairn, we've seen previously. In this case the rocks are building upon naturally occurring formations.
[Note from PWAX: I saw something similar this weekend]
Here are pictures of more cairns along the same Rhinebeck creekbed which has a long serpentine cairn, we've seen previously. In this case the rocks are building upon naturally occurring formations.
[Note from PWAX: I saw something similar this weekend]
Monday, September 22, 2008
Exploring a valley in Harvard, MA (part 3)
I have given some sense of this site in previous posts (here and here). This is a more personal account:
I parked and walked into the woods figuring, since this is Harvard, I was bound to find something in there. Walked up the east side of the valley following the brook and trying to scan around under the trees. At the brook I saw a tumbled down pile on the other side, so I crossed to explore. It was so broken down and un-structured, I was not convinced it was ceremonial. Who knows? These woods have seen a lot of action and this is the heart of the "Shaker" lands of Harvard - with rock piles everywhere anyway. [The sort of place where you might find a cream bottle in a rock pile.]
From this first faint site I figured I better head uphill, pushing upward through the pine saplings - not that I expected to see anything but just to make sure I was exploring the whole valley. So I was pleased to find a little grouping of rock piles:
See how they are placed around an open space? Here are three closeups:
The first and third seem almost representational.
I went a little further up hill and saw the first of the springs with water coming out of the side of the hill. This is a slightly unusual topography: springs on the side or a reasonable steep sloped hill. So you could be at a spring but also looking out over a valley at the same time. The first spring I found was flanked by two impressive rock-on-rocks. Here is one, seen through the bushes:
Here is the other:
You can see there is a lot of tumbled down rock piles in both pictures, not to mention the rock-on-rocks. Here is a nice montage:
Christmas ferns and Cinnamon ferns were growing everywhere along here. Most of the piles were long gone but there has plenty of evidence of structure:
Many of the piles looked like this a bit of rock pile on a boulder and a smear more or less downhill from the rock:
I figure this is just damaged piles - it used to all be on top of the support rock.
There was one place that a rectangle of soil seemed disturbed - 10x20 yards.
The disturbance might have been the excavating of the rock that were used in piles all around. Or something else?
Here we are deep in the ferns:
There must have been thirty or so rock piles in all.
After poking arounda bit more, I came up to the edge of the houses and headed back downhill. Back in the alluvial wetland there were one or two other rock piles and then I tried to cut between houses to get to a different part of the woods. But I was turned around a bit and ended up going back out pretty much the same way I came in.
Since so many of the rock piles were damaged it is hard to guess there original nature. There was a bit of "marker pile" feel to to the place and also a bit of an "effigy pile" feel to the place. An interesting and slightly unusual site.
I parked and walked into the woods figuring, since this is Harvard, I was bound to find something in there. Walked up the east side of the valley following the brook and trying to scan around under the trees. At the brook I saw a tumbled down pile on the other side, so I crossed to explore. It was so broken down and un-structured, I was not convinced it was ceremonial. Who knows? These woods have seen a lot of action and this is the heart of the "Shaker" lands of Harvard - with rock piles everywhere anyway. [The sort of place where you might find a cream bottle in a rock pile.]From this first faint site I figured I better head uphill, pushing upward through the pine saplings - not that I expected to see anything but just to make sure I was exploring the whole valley. So I was pleased to find a little grouping of rock piles:
See how they are placed around an open space? Here are three closeups:
The first and third seem almost representational.I went a little further up hill and saw the first of the springs with water coming out of the side of the hill. This is a slightly unusual topography: springs on the side or a reasonable steep sloped hill. So you could be at a spring but also looking out over a valley at the same time. The first spring I found was flanked by two impressive rock-on-rocks. Here is one, seen through the bushes:
Here is the other:
You can see there is a lot of tumbled down rock piles in both pictures, not to mention the rock-on-rocks. Here is a nice montage:
Christmas ferns and Cinnamon ferns were growing everywhere along here. Most of the piles were long gone but there has plenty of evidence of structure:
Many of the piles looked like this a bit of rock pile on a boulder and a smear more or less downhill from the rock:
I figure this is just damaged piles - it used to all be on top of the support rock.There was one place that a rectangle of soil seemed disturbed - 10x20 yards.
The disturbance might have been the excavating of the rock that were used in piles all around. Or something else?
Here we are deep in the ferns:
There must have been thirty or so rock piles in all. After poking arounda bit more, I came up to the edge of the houses and headed back downhill. Back in the alluvial wetland there were one or two other rock piles and then I tried to cut between houses to get to a different part of the woods. But I was turned around a bit and ended up going back out pretty much the same way I came in.
Since so many of the rock piles were damaged it is hard to guess there original nature. There was a bit of "marker pile" feel to to the place and also a bit of an "effigy pile" feel to the place. An interesting and slightly unusual site.
Turtle Island
Prompted by the comment below, I added the above poster that hangs in my bedroom...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"Turtle Island is the English language translation of many Native American tribes' terms for the continent of North America. The term is proposed as a substitute for or synonym for North America. The term was brought into popular usage by Gary Snyder through his book Turtle Island[1] in 1974. In a later essay, published in At Home on the Earth,[1] Snyder claimed this title as a term referring to North America which synthesizes both indigenous and colonizer cultures by translating the indigenous name into the colonizer's languages (the Spanish "Isla Tortuga" being proposed as a name as well). Snyder argues that understanding North America under the name of Turtle Island will help shift conceptions of the continent.
Referring to North America as Turtle Island suggests a view of North America not merely as a land "discovered" and colonized by people of European descent, but as a land inhabited and stewarded by a collection of rich, diverse, and civilized peoples. This collection may have room for both indigenous and colonizer cultures. This re-framing of the identity of North America is intended to bring about a better cohabitation of these two groups of people.
"Turtle Island is the English language translation of many Native American tribes' terms for the continent of North America. The term is proposed as a substitute for or synonym for North America. The term was brought into popular usage by Gary Snyder through his book Turtle Island[1] in 1974. In a later essay, published in At Home on the Earth,[1] Snyder claimed this title as a term referring to North America which synthesizes both indigenous and colonizer cultures by translating the indigenous name into the colonizer's languages (the Spanish "Isla Tortuga" being proposed as a name as well). Snyder argues that understanding North America under the name of Turtle Island will help shift conceptions of the continent.
Referring to North America as Turtle Island suggests a view of North America not merely as a land "discovered" and colonized by people of European descent, but as a land inhabited and stewarded by a collection of rich, diverse, and civilized peoples. This collection may have room for both indigenous and colonizer cultures. This re-framing of the identity of North America is intended to bring about a better cohabitation of these two groups of people.
Finally the term suggests to some interpreters a more holistic relationship between people and the continent's ecology, visualizing Turtle Island as an amalgamation of bioregions."
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Exploring a Valley in Harvard, MA (part 2)
Here again is the map. Let's start looking at the larger site on the hillside:
What seems to be a steep slope actually has a shoulder with springs - water coming out all along the side of the hill. There were also continuous rock piles, highlighting the blessing of the water as well as the view outwards to the east. Some of the piles were clustered in small self-contained groups; others seemed part of a larger organization. Here is the largest rock pile: If you watch the video, you'll see a number of things in the background. Let's take a closer look at one of the rock-on-rocks. You can see the large pile in this picture's background:
Even closer:
That black vein must be part of the setup: ritualized use of unique rocks, large and small rock piles, unusual springs on the side of a hill. This is almost certainly a Native American ceremonial location. It is not more than fifty yards from a house.
Let's have one more look at that big pile:
Harvard never disappoints.
What seems to be a steep slope actually has a shoulder with springs - water coming out all along the side of the hill. There were also continuous rock piles, highlighting the blessing of the water as well as the view outwards to the east. Some of the piles were clustered in small self-contained groups; others seemed part of a larger organization. Here is the largest rock pile: If you watch the video, you'll see a number of things in the background. Let's take a closer look at one of the rock-on-rocks. You can see the large pile in this picture's background:
Even closer:
That black vein must be part of the setup: ritualized use of unique rocks, large and small rock piles, unusual springs on the side of a hill. This is almost certainly a Native American ceremonial location. It is not more than fifty yards from a house.Let's have one more look at that big pile:
Harvard never disappoints.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Exploring a valley in Harvard MA
I noticed a piece of woods on the topo map. I had explored it before but not thoroughly and I saw that if I headed north, rather than east from the obvious parking, then I would be in a new place. It turned out to be a small valley with a brook, a surrounding alluvial area, a steep hill on the west side and a more gradual one to the east. I planned to walk in on the east side of the brook and cross where possible, explore some of the west side of the valley, then loop back over to the east side and explore what I missed on the way in.I saw a small damaged rock pile next to a stone wall, nothing too dramatic, and I was scanning the woods for something more substantial. I saw this on the far side of the brook. Surely a man-made tumble of rocks.
You can see there are lots of loose rocks behind this. I could not make much sense of it except that it certainly included some remnants that looked like rock piles:
This is on the other side, looking back towards the brook. Here is another similar view, looking past a different pile:
But I do not know. There were too many suggestions of structure to be confident what I was looking at. Maybe this was not originally rock piles? After all, rock piles are what you get in any kind of a ruin. I could not tell for this place. Here are some of the tumbled rocks suggesting an unfamiliar structure:
This site is represented by the smaller blue outline on the map fragment above.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
A platform pile by a brook at that "roadside site in Sterling"
Almost not worth reporting but somehow, to me, these rectangular piles at the edge of water are a kind of "big game". I associate them with the kinds of piles I see high on the Mannoosnucs but there is no evidence of it (although they are within easy walking distance). Anyway this was not exactly rectangular but more a lopsided diamond with one corned pointing toward the wet. Here is another view - it is buried in the ferns.
And here it is from a short ways downhill. You can see there are other damaged structures in the foreground.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Eastern States Rock Art Conference
(Thanks for Norman Muller for this information)
In the Summer 2008 ESRARA Newsletter, there is a notice on page 16 of upcoming conferences, one of which is the Eastern States Rock Art Conference (ESRAC) March 27-29, 2009. Tommy Hudson, the organizer of the conference writes: "There is also a call for papers. Rock art, stone piles and constructions, geoglyphs, iconography, and all subjects related are welcome. As an example, I will give a presentation on serpentine stone walls in North Georgia and their relationship to the tri-level cosmos." Hudson can be reached at myrockart@yahoo.com or by phone at 678-983-5333.
Update: The conference will be held at Red Top Mountain State Park (www.redtopmountain.com) about thirty miles north of Atlanta. A block of twenty rooms has been set aside at the park. Deadline for reserving the rooms will be January 27, 2009.
In the Summer 2008 ESRARA Newsletter, there is a notice on page 16 of upcoming conferences, one of which is the Eastern States Rock Art Conference (ESRAC) March 27-29, 2009. Tommy Hudson, the organizer of the conference writes: "There is also a call for papers. Rock art, stone piles and constructions, geoglyphs, iconography, and all subjects related are welcome. As an example, I will give a presentation on serpentine stone walls in North Georgia and their relationship to the tri-level cosmos." Hudson can be reached at myrockart@yahoo.com or by phone at 678-983-5333.
Update: The conference will be held at Red Top Mountain State Park (www.redtopmountain.com) about thirty miles north of Atlanta. A block of twenty rooms has been set aside at the park. Deadline for reserving the rooms will be January 27, 2009.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
A roadside rock pile site in Sterling, MA
I was driving along Elm Street from Leominster down into Sterling and saw a rock pile a few feet from the road under the pine saplings. It turned out to be kind of an interesting pile. A loose tumble of cobbles piled on a boulder. It does not look like much at first glance:
The boulder is somewhat elongated left-right in this picture and, if you look at the left end, you can make out two lines of cobbles extending out to the left. Here is a view over the boulder from that end, between the two extended lines of cobbles. You see not only the two lines of rocks extending forward. 
And you can also see a white rock in the middle of the upside-down "V". This is enough symmetry for me to consider this to be an effigy. No idea what it might represent.
On top of the pile:
A beer bottle pointing towards the wetland, where there were a few more piles.
I walked around the area between the road and a brook/wetland for about 1/2 hour spotting a few things here and there. There were a couple of things uphill on the other side of the road, like this other boulder pile:
And there was also another pile right at the edge of a little wet spot that also seemed like an effigy. I made a little video about it:
I also found a 10x10 foot platform pile which I'll report separately.
The boulder is somewhat elongated left-right in this picture and, if you look at the left end, you can make out two lines of cobbles extending out to the left. Here is a view over the boulder from that end, between the two extended lines of cobbles. You see not only the two lines of rocks extending forward. 
And you can also see a white rock in the middle of the upside-down "V". This is enough symmetry for me to consider this to be an effigy. No idea what it might represent.On top of the pile:
A beer bottle pointing towards the wetland, where there were a few more piles.
I walked around the area between the road and a brook/wetland for about 1/2 hour spotting a few things here and there. There were a couple of things uphill on the other side of the road, like this other boulder pile:
And there was also another pile right at the edge of a little wet spot that also seemed like an effigy. I made a little video about it:I also found a 10x10 foot platform pile which I'll report separately.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
One site report coming
After last weekend, I have one little site to report from Sterling, MA. But with Tim doing all the heavy lifting this week, I am enjoying the vacation.
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