Tennessee Cave Inscription

Reader Brad Lewis writes:

Hello… my name is Brad Lewis. I "discovered" a cave near my rural home in Tennessee in 1994. I've explored it for up to 1.5 hours deep and have taken many photos. The entrance is about 6ft high and 20 feet wide. It has a small shallow running stream flowing out of it. This originates from an artesian well deep within cave. The cave entrance faces due West. The cave lowers quickly and narrows some after the first 35-40 yards. After 2 sharp water filled turns all natural light is gone and you can get upon solid ground with some room to spare. But the ceiling today is low. It probably varied in this area 2 to 4 feet. I found out last year this was an undocumented cave in my county and had not been mapped or explored.     

I've taken a renewed interest in the last 2 years and am trying to figure out the significance (if any)  of an etched mud/clay mound within this cave. This mound is just after the 2 sharp turns and about 55 yards deep total. It located up again the cave wall and the ceiling. It's 4' long by 18" high and about 12" thick. About 1/3 way from its left going right it's cracked apart. There are 4-5 obvious symbols etched within the mud/clay. On left side is a large wavy figure and just left and midway down from this figure is another small one. It has a small black dot in its center and found lines going North, South, East and West coming from the center of black dot. There is a pile of stones at mounds base here also. And it appears some small pebbles were pushed into the wavy figures line if you look closely (left side). On the other 2/3's of mound (right side) the figures "H", "L", and "R" appear. They are spread out and each figure is about 3"- 4" high. And there appears to be many other figures or symbols but they are very faded. I don't know if the H, L, and R are a form of Runes writings or not. They do not appear to be initials from early spelunkers because they are so spread out. There is evidence of a large fire being used for a long time near the entrance due to the 5' - 6' burnt circle area on the ceiling. And there is evidence of fire near this mound also. I'll attach some photos for review and any opinions or thoughts would be appreciated….

[Here are some photos]:

asd

 

Read more here (click on page 8 and scroll down) 
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/today-s-finds/359759-metal-detectiing-tn-cave-anybody-done-7.html

Tall Walls- Hudson NH

This is a feat of skill, building such a tall thin wall with such small rocks.

Some of the adjacent wall remained level with this but, because the land went up, was only 1.5' tall.
Here is another made with larger rocks

This is near Brush Hill Rd.

Pretty little things

A sign of fall, a red maple leaf:

 A large Catocola at Burger King in Leominster.

High Ridge Wildlife Management Area Westminster

I located a wonderful large mound here, mainly by hunting systematically. I covered the area at the lower part of the map and saw a couple of possible rock piles next to the brook. But when I dove back in I found a large mound connected to short stretch of stone wall, in a pattern something like this:

It was hard to photo the whole structure. It was maybe a 40 feet long wall , with a 12 foot mound at one end (here the mound is one the left):

This is one of the biggest rock piles I have seen. When it gets big enough, let's call it a mound ("it's a beaut"):

Here is a view from the end of the stone wall:

 Hmmm. Big. Might have had more structure once.

I was curious if there would be a hollow on top. Indeed there was a small compartment:

Here is the video:

I suppose the wall led off in a particular direction which I should have noted. Here is one more view of where the pile connects with the wall: 

:

There were a few traces of smaller piles in the area:

For the sake of the memory, let me mention that just before finding this mound, I interacted with a baby wren and had to reassure it I meant no harm.

Appetizer - a little pyramid from High Ridge Wildlife Management Area, Westminster

Smoking Frog??

{That's all I know about a photo from: http://trailsandwalksri.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/mm-frog.jpg - which seems to be in Coventry RI ~ http://trailsandwalksri.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/maxwell-mays-coventry/}

More early fall colors

(since it belongs here, I'll repeat this photo of a newt)

lousy picture but you get the idea:

and

and the milkweed:

Jack-in-the-pulpit:

 and red-bud:

Early Fall- starting to explore again

It was great getting back into the woods a few weekends ago but I did not have a lot of luck finding new rock pile sites. It was nice to show Spruce Swamp Brook to FFC. Here he is pointing out another rock pile underneath the silt. This one has a bit of quartz on top:

Here is another (3rd):

And some grooming which, to my surprise, revealed a small hole going into the center of the pile, about 3" wide (I didn't get a picture).

Then sharp-eyed FFC noticed a little circle of stone:

Look close! I was starting to doubt the site was anything other than messy result of field clearing but for such a minor feature as this little circle. There is no getting around deliberate structure like this, that requires a non-random explanation. Lucky to have FFC along. During the walk we saw a few new piles and, downstream from the entrance the terraces looked more intriguing than ever. Someone should go back.

The next day I went to Wolfden Hill in Leominster St. Forest. Saw a few things on the eastern side of the summit and slope (2 small piles visible here):

After that it was mostly just colors and interesting bits of wildlife. 

A newt:

Moose poopie:

 

and a tired guy.

I followed the moose trails over to one of the headwaters of Steam Mill Brook. 

East side of Wolfden Hill, Leominster St. Forest

A bit dark and gloomy, pushing through class A and B mountain laurel. 

Nice to be rewarded with something obscure:

 It looks like a prayer seat.

Another dog on another (possible stone) pile

Biscuit on some old ruins at a pond near the caves.  

http://sheltontrails.blogspot.com/2012/06/tunxis-trail.html

Ravine Trail, Lyme CT

http://www.courant.com/community/lyme/hc-selden-creek-preserve-0117-pictures,0,613207.photogallery

Nice piles of stone I just happened to find an image of. 

{http://www.courant.com/community/hiking/ 

Recalling an effigy

Good lord! I forgot about this. Take a look, click through, and look at the photo, second from the top.

Something

Well, Bob Miner: I've got a similar pair of stones - only together because of the similar rosy color.

They were found ten miles apart, the hand axe in a pothole in the pavement on a little floodplain along Steele Brook in Watertown CT (turned into a "Plaza" in the 1960's) while the other one was found in a flower bed by an old Gothic Victorian house on Main Street Woodbury CT.

There's a "definitely human made edge" on that smaller stone, I've been told by many - at artifact identification day or at the Pow Wow (or in my dining room with Peter and Norman once).

When I've asked what the stone might have been used for, I've always been given the same answer:

"Something."

So nice to get back in the woods

This is the eastern side of Wolfden Hill, Princeton:

 

O ye O ye!

Got milkweed?