There are extensive walls at the Oley Hills site. As I recall, though, only one area was actually walled in, and that area held few features. Note how in this wall, the flat sides of the stones face out. Contrast that with the pictures that follow.
Frequently the walls meandered, going out of their way, or so it seemed, to link interestingly-shaped boulders as well as rock piles. Some people in our party refered to the linked stone above as "the sleeping Indian." At first I didn't see it, then I saw it. But did the people who built the wall see it that way? How can we know?
Another wall-linked boulder. Two things about this one. One--and this could be irrelevant--there is a flower native to the area that is the shape of this boulder. I don't know what its Indian name would have been. We call them turtle heads. Two--notice how the rocks on top of the wall seem to be lichen-free, as if they are more recent additions. Is that just chance appearance? Or, as I am not the first to ask, are these sites being kept up?
A wall passes over another curiously shaped stone. One possibility is that some of the walls are story walls, leading, like a 'stations of the cross' from one image to another in the form of boulders and rock piles of certain shapes, each representing a segment of a story or creation myth.Tomorrow, or maybe tonight, I will post some photos of stones that look like things--or not--and discuss things that may be related to the placement of some sites.
A lot of coleagues think some of the rocks have been deliberately worked. I don't know. However the last rock shown in the wall looks like it might have been scratched in that re-curved "S" shape. Are there any rivers nearby that go around a bend? I ask because a Native American map that looks like this was referenced in Manitou, and we have seen it near Lowell MA.
ReplyDeleteI don't know the landscape immediately around Oley Hills well. The question about the river would be worth looking into.
ReplyDeleteWere some of the stones worked? Some of them really look like it, but I still have a strong leaning toward saying no. Part of it, though, is just feeling like I'm far enough out on the precipice, and I'm uncomfortable taking any further steps out. A closer photo of the duck head, shows what looks almost like deliberate working. I also have a picture from a site in the
Poconos showing a pointer stone, and it looked like it had been shaped, almost knapped like a chert point to the desired shape.
A surprising number of these animal-head-shaped stones have appropriately-placed 'eyes'. What are we to make of that? Fortunately, I am in a position to be uncommitted on questions like this!