Blood Hill (one last thing)

I thought this was an attractive example of a pile, fallen off a boulder:

 

But looking over the pictures later, it occurs to me that this might be something else. The rocks on the ground below the boulder have some structure and I see a faint channel or rut in the dead leaves, along the left side of those rocks. Perhaps this feature, like the main mound, had something to do with water management.

Blood Hill (3) - below the main mound

Downhill from here there was another cluster of low piles and then the bottom of the valley, marked by a stone wall. 
Here is a view back uphill:

a view towards the bottom:

 and a view back from the bottom:

Interestingly, someone built an enclosure where this wall meets another, to the side:

 

Sort of looks recent.

Blood Hill (2) - the main mound

Referring to part 1 [here], I went down hill from the wall corner and found a big mound filling the  head of the valley with water, now flowing as a brook, coming out from the bottom of the mound. You can hear the suppressed excitement in my voice [my size estimate is probably wrong, more like 20-30 yards].

Let me sketch this mound, like a capital "J" on its side:

Here are some panoramas. Looking at them when I got home, I noticed the buried structure within the arms of the J. It makes it seem that the whole structure was about water flow. I imagine what this would be like in the rain with water rushing out of the bottom of the mound.

and

and

 and

Here the camera is focused on the "buried" structures a few feet below the main mound:

Here is a detail of the shorter arm, with a culvert [??] below a piece of quartz. The brook seems to come out of this culvert today but it looks as if the mound collapsed and blocked the main channel of the brook:

A closeup of the quartz:

The other arms of the J also had quartz at the end:

Looking at the buried structure and the placement at the top of a brook, I feel this is about water, about water flow, about water management. [Later, this article about the Inca resonated a bit.] After spending time photo'ing the main mound, I went downhill. I'll write later about the next small cluster of rock piles and a few more features at the foot of the valley.
(Compare with Raymond Memorial Park.)

The Water Temple of Inca-Caranqui

[Not directly rock pile related but reminded me of Blood Hill - which seems to involve water manipulation] 

From article in Archaeology by Julian Smith [click here]

As architecturally impressive as the site is, Bray says, it's hard to overstate its symbolic importance. "Manipulating water was clearly a huge deal to the Inca. They're manifesting physical control and power over an important local resource."

Blood Hill (1) - above the main mound

Blood Hill is a big hill just north of the border between Ashby and Fitchburg. I saw it looming over me while driving around looking for somewhere to walk and luckily it turned out to be a conservation land. So I went in from the east up an old road figuring I would check out the summit and then check out the water and wet areas. After visiting both the main summit and part of the smaller one to the southeast, I went back to the saddle between the summits and stepped off the path.
There was a rock pile immediately. Nice to see something but it is not that rare to find an isolated pile in a saddle between hills. 

Then I saw another pile covered with grass and leaves, then a third. I brushed off the dead leaves to find its component cobbles deeply buried in accumulated dirt, thinking "this is old".

It was pleasant to see some old rock piles. Continuing a few more steps downhill, I came across a rock on rock, also well buried, and then a slightly more prominent pile:

 Here it is, as part of a line of three structures:

I still did not think much of the site but dutifully began sweeping a bit laterally across the hillside. My foot found a larger smeared out pile. 

 

See the deer trail, winding along? I continued downhill and turned a corner past a pile buried under a hemlock. I could see another pile below and I am thinking "these are real rock piles".

 

At this point, I am almost starting to believe this was more than just a few old rock piles. Note this is like the first pile above.

For me, this is very pretty stuff, even in ruin:

I started being more systematic, searching laterally across the hill, and started coming on larger rock piles, with a hint of rectangular shape and a hint of quartz.

 

These begin to have the attributes that I associate with the culture that made mounds with hollows (the "Wachusett Tradition"). In fact a pile against a boulder had some of that form:

These were part of a cluster of piles:

The lower ones on the ground were slightly rectangular, some with a bit of quartz:

 

 

In my experience, these are deeply buried rock piles. I continued exploring laterally, out to a wall where there was something ceremonial at the corner:

On the left is a piece of white quartz. On the right, a piece of beige quartzite.From there, I turned and headed downhill where I found a big mound. I'll describe it next.

Another look at the large mound on Blood Hill - Ashby MA

Summit of Blood Hill - Ashby, MA

This is a pretty big hill, 2/3 of the way to Monadnock. I thought it would be worth checking out the summit before exploring the the valleys. I am confident that Indians visited these hilltops and, usually, there are some sort of traces. For example note the small U-structure in the foreground.

A closeup:

A fine horizon view:

Looking back at the stone wall that crosses the summit:

"Find a Trail"

or so says Sir Bikes Alot.

Lake Crabtree Park. Raleigh, NC

http://sirbikesalot.com/showfiles.php?sid=8&ci=2&pk=66&tr=1&ft=1&dc=2011-05-04

A snippet of the Ashby-Ashburnham

Look at this and think "there are probably more than 10 sites here". And it is a little less than an hour's drive. Doesn't anyone else want to get out there and find them?

Out and about...almost to NH

I had a most pleasant experience north of the Fitchburg Reservoir in Ashby Sunday. I found a big hill to climb and a spring and brook to descend and saw the largest stone mound ever - for me. There were lots of other features spotted around in the same valley and an undisturbed feel to the place - a complex and interesting site. Looking at the topo map now, I think it will take a month or more to explore all the other little valleys up there - at Blood Hill.

More later. For now, here is a picture of a mound built into a boulder, right next to Richardson Rd. on the north side of the Reservoir.

Looking back towards the road:

Another small anomaly near Falulah Brook

If you stand on West Ashby Rd, where it starts at Ringe Rd, and look south, there is another glacial ridge just south of the one you are standing one, across a bit of wetland contributing to Falulah Brook. For what it is worth, there are some walls over there and one of them ends in this peculiar formation:

Old Millworks on the Falulah

This brook, a favorite of mine, was also a place of a lot of activity to provide power to the town of Fitchburg. So I have to contend with where more recent stone work seems to taper off into what looks ceremonial. Luckily, a close inspection shows these more recent structures use much larger component rocks.

Gates Pond Rd

In the patch of woods between this road and Rt 495, on the east side of 495, saw one of those short walls that goes down into a dip:

And there was a rock pile or two. Like at Mill Pond in Burlington. Saw some just like this near Warner Rd. Pepperell - but I cannot find the reference.