At the top of a gully on Poplar Hill

Referring to the small outline to the left of the "P" in Poplar (introduced yesterday here):
I walked west from the road and was on my way back up the gully, a natural place to look for rock piles, when I saw a first one.
I looked around and there were more. Probably 15 or so and certain characteristics of the piles caught my attention.

The topography was more or less flat with wetness starting around the edges. Coming from downstream, I had just stepped up onto the slightly higher level area when I saw the first pile. The location reminds me of a site I saw at Regis College (scroll down)

These piles were a bit different from what I am used to. They seemed slightly rectangular. You can judge for yourself if you think these have straight sides.
If they are not rectangular, perhaps they have two straight sides, like a "V".

Anyway, I also noticed a few with particularly larger rocks on their perimeter:
Most of the piles were built on the ground but a couple were up on support boulders, or maybe this one was just taller than the others:
It had a nice piece of quartz in it, unlike most of the other piles, and I take this seriously since this was the most prominent pile.
And I was busy trying to notice what I could, perhaps thinking about the piles with single larger rocks, and noticed an example that was shaped like the classic manitou stone:
I found another example in the next pile over:
And there were a couple of other more questionable examples:

(also see video at end)

Finally, the most recognizable characteristic of these piles was their even spacing. I counted out ~13 paces between several of them and ~19 paces between others. Later in the same walk I found another site that seemed to include pile spacings of about 13 paces so that is worth keeping an eye out for.

To summarize:

• Top of a gully, about 20 ground piles.
  
• Rectangular or V shaped (from above) piles
• Occasional quartz
• Occasional prominent stones, some shaped like manitou stones
• Some even spacing of around 13 paces
  

So there you have it. Here is a glimpse:

For more on the topic of the number of paces between piles, see the numbers on this map.

Oxford Alabama Mound destruction continues.

Here is an update from the AP.

Note the comments referring to stone mounds "found up and down the Eastern Seaboard" and to North Smithfield. Sad as these cases are, you can see the public awareness changing a little bit at a time.


Update (Norman Muller writes):
Harry Holstein, an archaeologist in Alabama, sent me a copy of the archaeological report on the stone mound prepared by the State Archaeologist in response to one prepared by the firm of Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, a private archaeological firm. This firm found no evidence that the stone mound was of archaeological importance, and that it could be destroyed by developers for Walmart.

In a June 4, 2009 follow-up letter by Stacye Hathorn, the Alabama State Archaeologist, to Findley Frazer of Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, she said that site 1Ca636 (the Oxford Mound) was eligible for the National Register of Historic Places because it satisfied criteria A and C, the former being an example of an historic traditional practice or event in the Native American community.

In that same letter she wrote the following: “This stone mound was clearly constructed by Native Americans and is probably associated with the Davis Farm Complex which is already considered one of Alabama’s Places in Peril. Perhaps, the limited excavations didn’t reveal an abundance of associated artifacts but we hold that the mound itself is an artifact (my emphasis). On a national scale, these sites are beginning to be recognized for their importance. Recently, the Turner Falls Site in Massachusetts was determined for inclusion in the National Register of Historic places by the Keeper. Turner Falls is similar to 1Ca636 in that it is dry stone construction with few associated artifacts. Regarding Turner Falls the National Register cited: ‘The site is central to the cosmology of the combined tribes and the traditions that have marked Native American sacred and ceremonial practices for numerous generations.’ ‘Located in the middle of the Connecticut River region of New England, this site also possesses the potential to yield important information about traditional Native American practices, beliefs and sacred rituals.’”

Poplar Hill - Pelham NH

This picture is in the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archeology in Andover, MA (click here for their website) and a reproduction is sitting un-ceremoniously on the way out of the cafeteria at Philips Health Care - which now occupies the same location - the "bend in the river" archeological site reported on by Barbara Luedtke. The hill on the horizon, just to the right of the central pine tree in the picture and with a distinctive profile, is called Poplar Hill. I have visited it before [click here] and see it most mornings driving in to work.

I needed to go into work over the weekend and decided to take another walk at Poplar Hill afterwards. The hill is divided into two parts by a road:Last time I explored some of the hill to the right on the eastern side, so I thought it would be fun to explore the hill to the left on the western side. As you can see from the blue outlines, I found two new sites [and apparently changed my guess about the location of the small site on the eastern hill]. So I will report on the new sites.
Update: This erratic is on top of the western hill. Quite a landmark.

Coming up...

HEY! IT'S BACK

[random photo]

Creative Destruction - Chelmsford Trails Maintenance

Went for a walk east of the Russell Millpond in Chelmsford Town Forest. Only rock piles I saw were in a flat area and I could not make out whether they were rock dumps from field clearing or were something else. All we noticed the trail maintenance people had used rocks from a convenient nearby rockpile to re-enforce their little water management, flow control structures:

[ DAMN! Could not insert photo here. So much for buying an additional 10 gig of space on Picasa! Now I gotta go hassle with that. Sorry for the continued delay in photo postings.]

OK, we're back:Try to figure this one out. Several other low piles were in the area:And an interesting structure or perhaps just a random rock dump.
Which follows something like this pattern front to back:

Work stopped on removal of Oxford AL mound

" UA report on Oxford stone mound released; City councilwoman: Company told workers not to remove mound :"

I cannot figure out why they keep calling it a stone mound. Nor why they say the mound has not yet been disturbed. The photo shows a mixed stone and earth mound already dug into.

End of Blogging?

Correction: The end of free blogging. It now costs me $20 annually.

West VA rock piles / cairns / stone mounds

Norman Muller writes:

[I] have been in close contact with an archaeologist friend in West Virginia, who visited a site near Charleston, WV, and photographed a number of impressive cairns spread out over two terraces on a mountain slope.

[ IT WAS AT THIS POINT THAT I GOT A MESSAGE FROM BLOGGER THAT I COULD NO LONGER UPLOAD PHOTOS, BECAUSE I REACHED A QUOTA....NOW WHAT!?]

Another small collection of rock piles on Nobscott Hill

Went back to comb the northern edges of the hill, behind the apartment complexes. Found another example of a house foundation built on the steepest part of an outcrop - a peculiar way to place a house. There is another to the east on the way up to Tippling Rock. But anyway, there was one tumble of loose rocks other than the house foundation that caught my attention. I had trouble photo-ing it under the dappled light:There was a bit of a ring of stones at one end of the larger tumble. Here is another view with the ring visible on the right.

Wausau County Rock Piles

Found this photo online and got permission from Todd Fonstad to reproduce it. He writes:

Just give credit to the Carl Guell slide collection at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. ...Unfortunately, many of his aerial photos are somewhat blurry due to air speed.
I wanted to comment that I do not think these are all farmer's field clearing. Click to magnify and look at the curved line of small rock piles leading up to the larger one in the upper left of the photo. That looks too geometric to be the result of random rock disposal. More generally, I am fascinated with this photo and what it suggests.

Small Rock Pile Sites along Sawmill Brook - Estabrook Woods Concord, MA

It is rare that I get to add a new "dot" to my map of sites in Concord but I was lucky to find a couple of small rock pile sites along the brook that empties from Hutchins Pond, northeast of Punkatasset Hill in my hometown, Concord.

It was raining and overcast so the pictures, without flash, are blurry.And, while I am making excuses, the piles were not much to look at either. Buried in the moss, hidden in the ferns.Or, with trees growing up from them.
In one place I saw a bit of quartz but the photo was too blurred to show it. Still, seeing new rock piles in Concord is a treat. I found them in two groups along what is labeled Sawmill Brook on the topo map. This didn't used to all be woods. I saw a small stone bridge, so once there were roads through here.I doubt anyone has been here recently.

Quartz Platform Pile - Rochester, VT

Norman Muller writes:

Scanning some of the posts on your blog on my return from vacation, I was attracted to the one from Kevin on June 30, which made reference to a platform and retaining walls overlooking a waterfall in Bear's Den in New Salem, MA. This platform reminded me of a quartz platform that Ernie Clifford showed me in Rochester, VT, some years back. Located near the top of a small mountain, this platform was about 15 feet across and constructed nearly entirely of angular quartz rocks built against a huge erratic of gneiss. The platform faced in a westerly direction, and it was my feeling, as well as that of Ernie, that it was used for a vision quest ritual. Given the location of the Bear's Den platform overlooking a spectacular waterfall, it makes sense that it too might have been used as a vision quest site.

Mound used for fill for a Sam's Club

So it goes.
Update: Is there anything this blog could do to help protect against this?
Ah! I have an idea, I'll post the names of the bad guys. Who knows, perhaps a Google searcher will be drawn here because of it. The article, from the montgomeryadvertiser.com includes:

"...Oxford Mayor Leon Smith and City Project Manager Fred Denney said it was used to send smoke signals...."

It seems Mayor Leon Smith and City Project Manager Fred Denney are the bad guys. It is hard to see how what they are doing is good for the people in general.

New rock piles on Great Hill in Acton, MA

I went for a very pleasant walk with my wife Barbara at Great Hill in Acton. This is the big hill along Rt 27, pretty much behind the "Discovery Museum". It is a conservation land that I have visited a number of times in the past, finding small clusters of rock piles in three or four places. But I was trying to come up with someplace near home to explore and had been day dreaming about exploring around the northern part of this hill - a part of the hill I'd never been to.

We parked at the little parking lot on Rt 27 at the foot of the hill and I planned to cut to the left and head for the northern side of the hill. But when we got out of the car, I said: let's take a moment to look at the hillside, I just want to look closely. Here was the view:Looking carefully, it seemed that there might be some rock piles on the slope. In fact there were several suspicious "shadows on the rock" - where rocks might be piled up a bit.[ Click on the picture to see more detail.] It seemed the slope might actually be covered with rock piles. Who knew! How many times have I been past here without noticing anything? I have gotten better at knowing what to look for, or maybe this is the first time here without tree leaves blocking the view? So we went up the slope and, yes, it is covered with 50 or so rock piles. This is very typical type of site for a westward facing, steep, hillside that is flat or concave: all the piles are visible at one time, seen from various places on the slope. Let's take a closer look. The light was not good, so pictures are a bit blurred.The piles are damaged but the layout is still reasonably clear. In many places you could see lines of piles, evenly spaced:I asked my wife to stand with a pile at her feet, to help show the line:There is a lot of damaged structure up here but you still can get a decent sense of the place.
Evidently a major calendrical site. No question that these are ceremonial rock piles:Little question that the piles along with almost every rock were part of the large scale deliberate layout.Near the top of the slope, some larger boulders with rock piles, or damaged remains of rock piles: As we moved across the slope, heading towards the north side of the hill, I said to my wife that there might be some further clusters of piles. We went around a slight shoulder of the hill and did find a separate cluster of piles. I pointed out that, as we went around this shoulder of the hill, the first concave section was no longer visible. Now, with new sight lines, there was another cluster of piles. This is what I expected because I believe the use of these sites involved looking along lines of sight over, or along the sides of, these rocks and piles. Nice old piles in the dead leaves.

Isolated Pile - Daskin Hill Framingham, MA

I found one isolated rock pile near one of the summits of Daskin Hill. I looked all around for some other piles nearby but did not see any. So there is not much context and good reason to mistrust this pile. But it is a substantial rock pile that looks like it had an inner chamber, now vandalized:Another view:

Deer, no rock piles

I never saw a fawn so closeup: