Arrowhead finds

Since I found the Neville I posted last month I have had something of a dry spell. I have spent countless hours searching but found only flakes and fragments. A couple of weeks ago, several hours in one place near the sea yielded a scraper and two broken bases of stemmed quartz points, but no whole arrowheads. My friend Dave on the other hand has done really well, finding a few great arrowheads in only a few minutes of looking, it has made me really jealous. The closest I had come to finding a decent arrowhead in the last few weeks was on an evening when I took Dave to one of my spots, he told me he would not touch any rocks and true to his word, when he spotted something he did not pick it up and pointed it out to me instead.

I got to pick this up off the ground and keep it but Dave had the thrill of being the person to spot it. It is really rather crude and chunky, the tip is broken.

Today, I really wanted to find something and so I got up early and returned to the place where I found that scraper and the broken bases I mentioned. On that day I had searched about half of the searchable area, I hoped that maybe there would be something good for me to find in the other half. I spent 3 hours carefully looking, picking up even tiny flakes of tool materials. And I am very pleased to say, today was a lucky day for me. After two hours of not finding anything I was surprised to see this totally exposed and obvious.

This was a shape I did not really expect to find, this long narrow type. I only have a few of these. It was a thrill to find, though the tip is broken.

I kept looking and spotted this, less than 40 feet away. I found this in a rut caused by a vehicle tire, it was sticking out of the vertical wall of the deep rut. Just the base is sticking out.

I am glad that I recognized this for what it was before I picked it up. It is the same type as the other one, it is kind of crude. The only other place where I found more than one of these was also a coastal place. I wonder if maybe these were used for fishing or maybe something to do with shellfish?

I kept searching and came up with this. This one was hiding underneath some vegetation remnants and only an edge was visible. I wasn't sure until I picked it up if it was what I hoped it would be.

It turned out to be the best find of the day.

Here are the 3 points together. I am very happy with these. All about the same size, and the same type. I would call these Squibnocket Stemmed points.



Larger stone mounds -at last!- on Jewell Hill Ashburnam

After fighting my way downhill to the west from the top of Jewell Hill, I got to the saddle and over toward a sub summit and finally came across some larger mounds. I was looking all weekend and only saw that little "F" over by Falulah Brook (see here). I thought the saddle between the main hill and the summit that you see at "B" on the map would be a good place to look and that was correct. I started seeing loose piling along an outcrop:
You can see there is some structure there, with the bit of outline in the foreground. Hard to make anything out under the covering of ferns. I was not sure if I was seeing actual structure. Here is a view of the whole thing:I proceeded to B and saw another mound of ferns, which was confirmed as a rock pile by the bit of retaining wall visible:
It is actually more than five feet tall at the downhill side.There were two smaller "satellite" piles within 30 feet of this one, helping to confirm its nature. Each satellite had a white rock:anddetail of the white rock:There was at least one more, a third, large mound covered with ferns:These mounds are at the border between Falulah and Philips Brook watersheds.

Split-wedged rock - Jewell Hill, Ashburnam

Following a wall downhill on the northern side, saw this split rock:Took a closer look:Saw a wedge.

An isolated rock pile at a seemingly random spot on a hillside

The top of Jewell Hill, Ashburnam MA

See map here. A typical, pretty, Massachusetts hilltop. There was a lookout to the southeast, with a bench. But I was interested in the view of Mt Wachusett to the southwest, and wandered off trail in that direction. I saw some faint traces of man-made disturbances but I never saw the mountain:
And I saw a newt. After a while, I went west downhill, through tough class C laurel.

On the way back from being lost at the upper reaches of Falulah Brook

With reference to the previous post. I was on my way back and saw this:
Frequent readers must know that I am obsessed with rectangular rock piles with a hollow in the middle. Should I call them "box mounds"? It is a reasonable description. Anyway, this one was built into an outcrop, a few yards above the marsh.

Aiming for Jewell Hill

I spent the weekend tramping around places on this map. Starting at Ashby West Rd and Falulah Brook, I thought I would follow the water courses up and to the west towards Jewell Hill. But it was a cloudy gray day and I got turned around somewhere like A and saw rock piles at a place looking out to the north over a marsh. Most of the pictures are blurry and the sites I found were not spectacular.

At the very beginning, I was pleased to find a small "F" shaped pile, having something like a hollow and something like a tail (here the top of the "F" is in the foreground and the tail is trailing away in the background):Here is a bit of color for a change:I walked until this popped up in the ferns:
Looking around carefully there were more and more. Maybe 20-30, in the end. This was at a place where the stone walls formed a T, with and abrupt and messy ending, in the midst of the rock piles:Here we are looking from the messy ending back toward the main wall. Most of the rock piles I saw were to the left in this picture, off in the direction of water. There were also piles to the right in this picture but three yellow jacket stings, in quick succession, dissuaded me from exploring more thoroughly there.
Overall, the piles had characteristics of marker piles. The better built/preserved ones had almost vertical sides: and, at least occasionally, they seemed lined up and evenly spaced:Do you see the three piles in a row? Note the vertical faces of these piles. Their orientation is perpendicular to the row of piles.
There were some other piles down closer to the edge of the marsh.In the background is another abrupt wall ending. Occasionally a nicer pile:About where I got stung:A more soothing image, rock piles under beech trees:
Uh Oh!
The M'F'ing loggers...they are coming...with big equipment!

More from the top of Falulah Brook

to be continued...

Going out exploring tomorrow...

...for the first time since the beginning of July. I am excited, there are several places I have been storing up.
Update:
And what a weekend it was. Getting lost where Falulah Brook forms below the Fitchburg Reservoir, getting stung, being amidst rock piles most of the time. Then Sunday, at Jewell Hill in Ashburnham, finally finding some rectangular mounds on a secondary summit. That's just too far from home. And Sunday afternoon with FFC and tired legs, finding even more mounds in Acton - decrepit ones. Pictures coming later.

Are there rock piles in Coeymans, Alcove, Indian Fields, Ravena, New Baltimore, or Bethlehem?

Reader Karen H. writes:
I am a presenter at the upcoming Algonquian Conference at the NYS Museum. My topic is the connection between the Coeymans family and the Mohicans from whom they 'purchased' their 125 square mile patent.
In viewing your website, I was curious if anyone had come across rock piles in the area that is the interest of my study, mainly Albany County just north of Greene County [NY] especially around the Alcove Reservoir and the Basic Creek Reservoir. The towns would include: Coeymans, Alcove, Indian Fields, Ravena, New Baltimore, and Bethlehem.

Rock Stack and Spirit or Pain Baskets near Lake Shastina CA

All Photos ~ http://www.ancientpathsofshastina.com/

Rock Stack near Lake Shastina CA

Similar to illustrations of "Indian Gods" in "Manitou" by Mavor & Dix 

My friend Alyssa Alexandria also found two more examples of a type of stone known to the Maidu of California as "ku'kinim to'nior i'tum to'ni " ("spirit or pain baskets")...

...similar to this one below that appeared in this post:

http://rockpiles.blogspot.com/2012/05/3-stone-baskets.html

Minnesota Grass

Ski Jump, Indian Mounds

Subject: Indian Mounds Park, Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota
Approximately 1940
http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?irn=10688184

Kazakhstan Burial Mounds

CLICK HERE
Interesting that they are completely smeared.

12th Annual Algonquian Peoples Seminar

Via the NEARA bulletin board:
Native American Institute of the Hudson River Valley
12th Annual Algonquian Peoples Seminar
Saturday, September 15, 2012

New York State Museum
Cultural Education Center, Empire State Plaza
Madison Avenue, Albany, New York

This is not a fire ring

Part of a complex of rock piles at Spring Hill in Acton:

FFC at Midway

I finally got a Wachusett site in FFC's neighborhood:

More about shoes in rock piles

from Barry W:
Here is a pic of the latest shoe find. The laminated sole and heel were joined with tiny wooden pegs. It’s amazing that they’re still somewhat intact. Not native footgear for sure. As for good luck, in the time period that these shoes were used, one was lucky to even have shoes. Most kids didn’t get real shoes or boots around here until their later years. They didn’t go out much in winter. It was pretty rough living then, at least on hardscrabble Maine farms.
Note: all the subsumed shoes we’ve found have been quite small and some obviously womens’.

Tapping the vein - Heritage Daily

In my opinion these people are taping the right vein of general archeology. I'm bookmarking it!

Make sure to check out the "Skeptical Caveman". I guess they are on Facebook too. Good marketing what ho!

Rock Piles of Northeast Connecticut

A new link added to the right:

Rock Piles of Northeast Connecticut: TRIPLE WIDE WALL 130' Long: I have encountered this stone wall?? It bi-sects a regular North to South wall and extends 130' to the West before abruptly ending.