A tour of the back swamp between the Mannosnocs - Leominster

I have written very little about the Manoosnocs and Mt Elam Rd. I call this area the "capital of the inland empire" because it is the largest collection of inter related sites I know, containing mounds in the Fitchburg tradition  - which I used to call the "Wachusett Tradition" until realized that Wachusett was not the only central concept for these cultures. Anyway, this is my favorite place out there, called "NoTown" because it was where the low life's were pushed during the post colonial era.  The Notown reservoir is pretty much surrounded by sites if you are willing to push through mountain laurel to get to them. 
Anyway, I found an excuse to go back there: I had not explored the north slope of South Manoosnoc, nor the verge of the swamp at its base. I guess I made a mistake because I traversed that slope too far uphill and saw almost nothing till I got back to the lowlands.

We'll have a look at some pictures. Let me mention that I avoided the main sites (except at F) and deliberately went places that seemed less promising - because I hadn't been to them. 
I got off Mt Elam Rd and went walked parallel with it, but following closer to the power lines. Here was earthen mound at A:

An earthen mound is an unusual find. Especially here, in an area full or stone mounds. I knew it was dirt, cuz it was soft when I poked a toe into it. Then back on the Rd: here is where we cross beneath the power lines:

We glimpse some larger mounds but have other goals for the moment.

Tim MacSweeney will know why I could not resist going off in an inviting direction here:

But there were only scraps back there and I continued up and across and down over towards B. The hillside:

Make no mistake about "Notown". It was a serious, ceremonial, place. 
So I was exploring along the verge of the swamp back there. I am a bit confused by the map because I think there is another road in there that goes south towards South Manoosnoc - the way to its summit. I was on that road and cut back towards the swamps at an elbow in the road. Poking along, I see this:

I have had good luck, so I went through the opening with optimism. At B. And immediately there was the rock pile: covering the entire top of the little knoll. Hard to photo, this video captures as much as there is to see:

I was in luck along there and found a least one other bump covered with stones, so messy you would be tempted to think it was from field clearing - except there are no fields here, and the pile is part of a continuum of styles (these being much the oldest in my opinion) that are illustrated throughout this area. No field clearing, burials! Photos of same:

 

Iconic Leominster:

There was another mess atop this bump but the wall was quite eye catching (mound to the right):

What is this?

In the Manoosnocs you are never far from moose. 
Here was an isolated pile next to an old trail leading up from the swamp:

Then we start a long slow traverse of the lower north slope of South Manoosnoc. Nothing much in there. An occasional rock on rock, and occasional small pile. At the power lines, this impressive wall caught my eye:

Look closely and notice a couple of "hollows" in the wall - a couple places where there were no rocks. Traversing...(C).

Then I headed back down towards the edges of the wetland. I came across a curiously steep little bump in the woods (D), that almost seemed artificial. I climbed it dutifully, and only noticed one thing on the way down: a crater dug into the sandy side, with a stone lined entrance:

It doesn't look like much but it was a real feature. Just across a little valley was this pile, facing the crater:

It looked familiar and I soon realized it was the edge of one of the more interesting "sites" I have found here in the past. Certainly the most obscure - since it is not easy to get to D.
Then I was crossing a swamp, with difficult going through the laurel, and stumbled on a small group of piles with quartz at E. These seemed like old marker piles.

 

Pretty substantial. I was struck by how the landscape must be totally different not from when these piles were functional.

Then it was back to the edges of the main site, at F:

 (detail of just in front of the the log )

A bit like a quartz manitou Mavor writes about in Falmouth. A thoroughly pleasant walk, with something for everybody - from mounds to standing stones.

One of four stone cairns (ND)

BISMARCK—The company building a controversial oil pipeline north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation failed to immediately notify state regulators after finding four stone cairns and other artifacts during construction in Morton County as tensions grew among pipeline opponents, documents show...

http://www.inforum.com/news/government/4149878-company-showed-lack-transparency-reporting-artifacts-discovery-days-leading

"This is the place..."

Fall colors

And a few other scenes:

I love beech trees

Coming up:

Off in the woods

"Well Formed Openings"

    I've really been paying attention to those "well constructed wall openings" mentioned here ever since finding the snake head-like boulder shown above, with that well defined white quartz eye feature, at the land trust property around former home of the first Puritan minister in Bethlehem CT. The boulder on the opposite side of the gateway also could be said to resemble another snake head-like stone and both are at slight angles as if giving the impression that the snakes are looking at whom-ever is entering this gateway, bringing to mind that the word Uktena literally means "Strong Looker." The next "well formed opening" to the north of the one shown above at first glance doesn't appear to be anything remarkable as you approach it:

 Standing in the center of the opening, looking to the left, one could interpret this as a variation of the serpent theme, using flatter stones obviously (stacked on what may be an older serpent below the uppermost):

Turning to the right, an almost identical stone, possibly disturbed a little, but still conveying the impression (the Indigenous builder's purposeful intention) of an Uktena seeming to look at the person entering the gateway: 

     Peter's post about Sawyer Hill featured this photo:

Side by side, my photo and Peter's, cropped just a little and resized for effect:

  I don't know what sort of "space" these serpents shown above protect (thinking of Denison Peet and serpents that guard agricultural fields http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2015/02/effigies-as-source-of-protection-to.html), but these in this post show a repeat of that sort of pattern as "well formed entrances" into a cranberry "swamp" in Litchfield CT, about 10 miles north of the Preacher's Preserve: http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2016/04/cranberry-garden-edge.html

Camp of the Sacred Stones (ND)

       On Saturday (Oct. 22, 2016), hundreds of water protectors from different nations were met with violence by militarized police in riot gear, and approximately 141 were arrested. Four protectors locked themselves to a disabled car at an active construction site, stopping construction for approximately 7 hours. Then a peaceful procession of hundreds walked to the sacred sites intentionally destroyed by Dakota Access LLC on September 3rd.

Photo by Rob Wilson Photography

     LaDonna Allard, a Standing Rock Sioux tribal member who founded the Sacred Stone Camp, spoke of the sacred sites people are trying to protect: “There are sacred sites, cultural sites, traditional cultural properties, and burial sites that the State Historical Society knew of - they should've followed the law and must protect these sites. But they are pushing the sites under the rug and no one is talking about it. There's the executive order protecting sacred places - E.O. 130007, NAGPRA, ARPA, and the NHPA that are supposed to protect these sites. AIRFA is supposed to give Natives the right to visit these places. To the North Dakota SHPO: just because you accepted the money from the oil company does not mean you have the right to violate our rights. No one has the right to take our footprint off the earth."

http://sacredstonecamp.org/blog/2016/10/23/141-water-protectors-arrested-as-police-escalate-violent-militarized-response

     “This gathering has been called the largest gathering of Native Nations ever...”  http://theindigenouspeople.com/2016/10/04/feds-shoot-down-furious-north-dakota-cops-and-dapl-corp-telling-them-there-are-no-grounds-to-evict-growing-pipeline-protest-camp/

   Images perhaps similar to those bulldozed sites near Camp Standing Rock and a link to the DemocracyNow! coverage from 9/6/2016:

http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2016/09/stone-piles-snakes-and-turtles-in-n.html

"Petroglyphys" from Pinnacle Mountain

Reader Gene sends:

In the last 15 yrs we have locate 15 or sites in SW North Carolina and NW South Carolina that contain only pecked circles. In one case, over 600 of them! In all, we have located app 2500 carved circles in SC and 300+ in NC.

All sites carved in granitic gneiss, and all except two, above 2000 ft elevation. They closely resemble Pecked Curvilinear Nucleated glyph's as described by Gillette in her PhD thesis in CA; none of ours exhibit the prominent dome in the center of the circle. 

All the circles are not truly "circles". I'm trying to re educate our people to use the term in Goodlett's dissertation : pecked curvilinear nucleated. Ok, circles is easier! We believe the intent of the carver was to carve circles, but have u ever tried to carve granitic gneiss with a rock? 

In the 2500+ motif's we've looked at, there was one "possible" square and one suspect triangle.

Fall arrowhead season

     Many sites, where I once found arrowheads, have been destroyed. I have spent a lot of time this fall searching in new places. I haven't found anything.
     I drove by a familiar place. The conditions looked terrible- a disappointment. I kept going, but after a while I turned around. There were some small spots there, where the ground was exposed, and where I could look. Maybe worth taking a short walk, get out of the car, stretch my legs a little.
     I parked my car on the road. I took a few steps. I was about 5 feet from the pavement and had been out of the car for less 10 seconds, when I saw this.

      I could not believe my own eyes. Usually, for me, looking for arrowheads entails long hours of pacing back and forth, sometimes finding something, more often finding nothing. There have been a few times that I have found something almost right away but this particular find is a new record for me, I think. I wonder how many stone tools are under that road? How many people, driving there, would ever suspect?

     This is, in my opinion, a good example of this type of projectile point. Squibnocket Stemmed, I would call it. The material is quartz, as usual. A typical shape and material for southeastern New England.

     I found some other items that afternoon. This one was easy to spot.

     Not as nice as the first one but still a decent point, I think.

     It was a good day!

     A different day, in the same place.

     It's a Squibnocket Triangle. I don't know why the people who lived in this spot used quartz so much, and almost never any other material. This little guy is rather well made. The person who made it had skill.

     It rained this weekend. Maybe I will go back to this place.